


Hi My Name Is...

by iwasnthere622



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Acceptance, Arguing, Body Dysphoria, Body Image, Canon-Typical Violence, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Dress Up, Dysphoria, Fighting, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Gender Identity, Gender Issues, Gender Roles, High School, Homework, MTF Jason Lee Scott, Makeover, Makeup, Nicknames, Shopping, Sparring, Studying, Training, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Jason Lee Scott, Transgender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-23 02:34:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11980257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasnthere622/pseuds/iwasnthere622
Summary: She stared at her naked body in the full length mirror on the back of the door and cataloged every way that it was wrong.Strong jawline, Adam's apple, broad chest,flat chest, non-existent hips, lean thighs, hair everywhere, too-big hands... feeling useless tears well in her eyes, she swiped angrily at her face.Suck it up, she ordered herself.





	1. Chapter 1

Jason woke up to her alarm going off for school and immediately wished she hadn't. Her body was too big and sharp angles and _aroused_ and the overwhelming sense of wrongness made it hard for her to get out of bed.

 

She forced herself up, knowing it'd be worse if her parents came to see why she wasn't up yet, dragging her feet to the bathroom and stripping out of her sleep clothes. She stared at her naked body in the full length mirror on the back of the door and cataloged every way that it was wrong.

 

Strong jawline, Adam's apple, broad chest, _flat_ chest, non-existent hips, lean thighs, hair _everywhere_ , too-big hands... eyes skittering over her junk, unable to even _look_ at it, feeling useless tears well in her eyes and swiping angrily at her face.

 

_Suck it up_ , she ordered herself.

 

She got dressed, avoiding her own eyes in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, sitting to pee and wanting to cry, shoving everything aside and heading downstairs.

 

Jason was never much of a morning person, so thankfully her parents left her alone, eating a granola bar because she didn't have the energy for anything else, heading out with Pearl to drop her at school and letting her easy chatter distract her.

 

Once Pearl was gone, though, it was hard to force herself to drive to the high school, knowing she really didn't need more trouble if she ditched but sorely tempted anyway. Only the thought of the team coming looking for her made her pull into the lot and park.

 

She grabbed her bag and kept her head down, going straight for her locker and switching out the books she needed.

 

"Hey, Jase," Kim said, walking up to her, Billy trailing her.

 

"Hey," Jason said, shifting, voice subdued.

 

Kim frowned. "You okay?"

 

Jason didn't meet her eyes. "Didn't sleep well," she lied, grip tightening on her bag, forcing herself to breathe so she didn't snap the strap. Again.

 

Kim made a noise of understanding, moving to hug her and the press of Kim's curves against her hard lines made her want to cry, pulling back quickly.

 

"I'll see you guys at lunch, okay?" Jason said, not waiting for an answer before walking towards her homeroom.

 

The day dragged and Jason found herself unable to really focus in class, feeling her body too much. She was aware of the press of her jeans and the way her t-shirt hugged her chest and the rise and fall of her body with each breath she took.

 

She felt like she was drowning on dry land, the bell ringing and signaling fifth period -- lunch -- and starling her. She walked slowly to the cafeteria, not hungry and not wanting to deal with her friends' concern but going nonetheless, sitting down at their usual table next to Billy.

 

She set her bag on the seat next to her, to try to keep them from touching her -- though Billy certainly was much more open to being affectionate with them now, he still rarely initiated contact on his own and Jason needed that space today.

 

"You look like shit," Zack said, the boy yelping when Trini smacked him and shot Jason a worried look.

 

Jason sighed. "It's fine, I'm just tired. I'm just gonna sleep," she said, folding her arms on the table and burying her face, trying to drown everything out, trying to pretend she was fine.

 

They mostly left her alone and Jason pretended not to hear their worried whispers, feeling bad for worrying them but not having the energy to do anything about it, just not having it in herself to pretend today.

 

"Jason? There's only 5 minutes left, you should eat something," Kim said, gently shaking her arm.

 

Jason lifted her head slowly, blinking her eyes and accepting the sandwich Billy was offering, knowing the boy must have saved it for her specifically.

 

"Thanks," she said, taking a bite to appease them, struggling to swallow but getting it down. She had to psyche herself up for each bite, but she managed to eat the whole thing, finishing just as the bell rang.

 

"No practice today," Trini said, voice firm, and Jason nodded because Trini was her second so if she said no practice, it meant Jason really looked like shit and shouldn't go to practice.

 

"Want us to come over, cuddle pile?" Zack offered, worried frown on his face and Jason felt new guilt twist in her gut because Zack had enough to worry about without also worrying about her.

 

"I'll be okay," Jason said, shaking her head. "I'm just gonna get through the rest of today, pick up Pearl, and crash at home."

 

"Okay," Kim said, chewing her lip, clearly still worried, glancing at Trini.

 

Trini studied Jason for a minute before nodding. "Okay, but text us if you change your mind."

 

"Thanks," Jason said, actually meaning it, grateful they would give her space and hoping that once she got home and went to bed, she'd feel okay when she woke up.

 

\--

 

"You didn't have to come with me," Trini said, walking through the automatic doors and into the mall, Jason right behind her.

 

Jason shrugged. "I don't mind."

 

Trini gave him a look, walking to the department store she wanted to hit, double checking her mental map of the mall to make sure they were efficient with all the stores she wanted to go to. "I have to go bra shopping," she threatened.

 

Jason flushed, not meeting her eyes. "That's fine."

 

Trini sighed. "Look, I know you're trying to spend time with everyone outside of school or training, but you don't have to be here."

 

Jason straightened up. "Do you really want me to go?" he asked, tone suggesting he would leave if she told him to.

 

"...No," Trini admitted. "But guys don't like shopping, Zack cried last time I dragged him."

 

Jason shrugged, hunching his shoulders. "I'm not Zack."

 

Trini snorted. "Thank god."

 

They entered the store and Jason trailed after Trini, holding the jeans that she picked out and helping her find the right size, sitting patiently outside the changing rooms when Trini went to try them on, looking around at the summer dresses the store had out.

 

His gaze snapped to Trini when she came back. "Fit okay?" he asked.

 

Trini nodded, holding two pairs in her hand, the rest discarded in the dressing room. "Fine."

 

"Shouldn't you buy jeans in the fall or winter?" Jason asked, following Trini to the checkout line.

 

Trini shrugged. "Normally, but I busted out the knees in the rest of my pairs. I have a ton of shorts now, though."

 

Jason chuckled, having seen Trini's homemade cutoffs. "They don't look too bad, either."

 

"I know," Trini grinned at him, handing over her jeans to pay, not surprised when Jason grabbed the bag to carry it.

 

"I can carry that, you know," she said as they left the store and walked to the next.

 

Jason shrugged. "So can I," he pointed out.

 

"Whatever, Scott," Trini said, giving in, heading into the shoe store and missing Jason's grimace.

 

"Didn't think you were a shoe person," Jason commented.

 

"I'm not, I need new converse," Trini said, smiling when Jason chuckled, leading him down the aisle.

 

Jason looked around at the small, dainty heels and sandals, moving slowly after Trini as she bee lined for the sneaker section. He wandered a bit, just looking around, while she tried on a pair and compared it to the same shoe half a size bigger.

 

"I'm done," Trini said, looking up to see Jason studying high heeled boots.

 

"Right," Jason said, moving over to her and once again following her to pay, taking this bag as well.

 

"You know, I bet Kim has those boots," Trini teased.

 

Jason blushed. "Ah, yeah, probably."

 

"Bras, now," Trini announced as they approached a different department store.

 

"Oh. You're not gonna go to...?" Jason asked, trailing off.

 

Trini rolled her eyes. "I'm not into Pink," she answered.

 

"Okay," Jason said, accepting that and following her inside.

 

Trini didn't say anything else, moving to the sports bras to pick out a few new ones, feeling about as uncomfortable as Jason looked, like he was afraid he would be yelled at for being in this section at any moment, eyes darting around.

 

She grabbed what she needed, eyeing the push up ones, considering it... she shook her head, turning to Jason and finding him eyeing the lingerie with almost... longing?

 

"I'm good," she said, watching him jump.

 

"Okay, great," Jason said, seeming eager to leave, flushed slightly.

 

Chalking it up to being forced into bra shopping, Trini let him set a quick pace to the check out, grabbing this bag before he could so she didn't embarrass him further.

 

"Food?" Trini asked when they left the store.

 

"Definitely," Jason said, relaxing a bit and Trini smiled at him.

 

\--

 

Jason unlocked the door, ushering Pearl inside. "Homework first," she reminded, her sister rolling her eyes.

 

"I know," Pearl said, heading to the kitchen table and pulling out her homework from her backpack.

 

Jason grabbed them both a drink before settling next to Pearl to work on her own homework, helping occasionally but Pearl was really smart and didn't need much help.

 

She glanced at the clock when Pearl announced that she was done, bouncing in her chair a bit.

 

Jason smiled. "Okay, you go get everything set up, I'm going to make us some grilled cheeses for dinner, and then we'll play after we eat, deal?"

 

"Deal!" Pearl yelled, off her chair and racing to her room.

 

Jason chuckled, putting her homework into her bag so she wouldn't forget it tomorrow, setting aside her own homework -- she could finish tomorrow at lunch, and that was probably better anyway because unlike Pearl, Jason _did_ need help with homework -- and moving to get their dinner cooking.

 

She wasn't all that great in the kitchen, but she could make the basics thanks to plenty of nights like this where it was just her and Pearl, easily making their grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

"Pearl, dinner!" she called, setting the table and smiling when Pearl raced in, clearly excited to eat and then get to play.

 

"Careful, it might be hot," Jason cautioned, cutting Pearl's sandwich into four triangles to help it cool faster, grabbing a bag of chips for them to split, too, and sitting down to eat.

 

They were both pretty hungry so it didn't take long to finish up. "Now?" Pearl asked hopefully.

 

"Lemme just clean up," Jason agreed, cleaning up their dishes and then following Pearl to her room after double checking the door was locked.

 

She sat down on the floor next to the play table in the corner of Pearl's room, smiling at the dolls and stuffed animals lined up next to it as well and watching Pearl go straight to her princess chest and pull out her favorite pink princess dress.

 

"Need help?" Jason offered, watching Pearl carefully pull the costume on over her clothes.

 

"I got it," Pearl said, concentrating and getting the dress on, twirling and giggling when the puffy skirt lifted up.

 

"Very pretty," Jason said, smiling at her and ignoring the spike of envy she felt.

 

"Makeup now?" Pearl asked, pulling out her little kit and setting it on the table.

 

"Sure," Jason agreed. "Want me to do you, or do you want to do me first?"

 

Pearl thought about it. "I'll do you first," she decided.

 

Jason smiled and nodded, sitting still and letting Pearl stand over her, reaching for her blush brush and dabbing it into the pink powder.

 

She let Pearl give her pink cheeks and pink lips with her lip gloss and selected the purple eyeshadow when Pearl let her pick, closing her eyes and staying still while Pearl applied it.

 

"Well, how do I look?" Jason asked when Pearl was all done.

 

"Very pretty!" Pearl giggled, hugging Jason.

 

Jason hugged her back, stomping down any resentment over not being able to really be Pearl's big sister and just trying to enjoy these stolen moments of getting that chance instead.

 

"Your turn," she said when they pulled apart, having Pearl sit in her kid's chair in front of her.

 

She used the limited tools that Pearl had, giving her a subtle blush that highlighted her cheekbones. She used three different eyeshadows to make Pearl's eyes look bigger, using the darker shade to bloom out the color -- Pearl wasn't allowed to play with eyeliners, but she loved the way it looked so Jason did her best to make do with the eyeshadow.

 

Last, she applied some lip gloss to make Pearl's lips shine, declaring that she was done and Pearl was gorgeous.

 

"I wanna see!" Pearl said, reaching for Jason's hand to tug her into the bathroom, closing the door and stepping up to exam herself in the mirror.

 

Jason glanced at herself before forcing her eyes onto Pearl instead, trying hard to ignore the want-shame-need-guilt swirling in her gut.

 

Pearl met her eyes in the mirror. "We both look like princesses!"

 

"You are a princess," Jason promised, picking her up to twirl her in the air and take her back to her room. They had a tea party, eventually washing up for bedtime, Jason careful in using the makeup remover wipes to make sure nothing lingered on either of their faces.

 

"Remember, tonight was our secret just for us," she whispered, kissing Pearl on the forehead after tucking her in, Pearl nodding solemnly up at her. "Good night."

 

"Good night," Pearl echoed, closing her eyes. Jason left the room and headed to her own, packing up for school the next day and climbing into bed.

 

\--

 

"I'm going to run to the bathroom, be right there," Kim said, waving Jason into her bedroom with a smile before continuing down the hall to her bathroom.

 

After she was done, she washed up, grabbing a hair tie to pull her hair into a messy pony out of her face and heading back to her room.

 

"You probably don't even know what half of that stuff is," Kim teased as she walked into the room, catching Jason sitting at her vanity and holding one of her liquid eyeliners.

 

Jason flushed, quickly putting the makeup down and standing up. "Yeah," he laughed, embarrassed.

 

"Pearl's not into makeup yet?" Kim asked, sitting on her bed and grabbing her bag, Jason moving to join her.

 

"Just the kid version. She's only 9," Jason said, settling and pulling out a math textbook.

 

"Still, she must play dress up," Kim said. "I did, at that age."

 

"Yeah? What did you dress up as?" Jason asked.

 

"A princess, usually," Kim grinned. "Mostly I just wanted to be grown up. I'd walk around in my mom's heels all the time."

 

"My mom doesn't really dress up that much," Jason said, shaking his head.

 

Kim shrugged. "I'm sure she has some heels, every woman does. Even Trini, though she never wears them."

 

Jason chuckled, flushing a bit. "Right."

 

"Pearl really doesn't dress up?" Kim asked, genuinely surprised.

 

"She does, sometimes. She has the costumes, the puffy dresses?" Jason said, choosing his words carefully. "And she has play makeup, but she'd rather put it on someone else than herself."

 

"Ah, okay, she's a beautician," Kim grinned. "I'll have to come over and let her make me pretty one day."

 

"She'd love that," Jason admitted.

 

"I bet, since your mom probably doesn't have enough time to let her practice as much as she wants," Kim said.

 

"Right," Jason agreed, opening up his textbook.

 

"I have some stuff I don't really use, I could give it to you for her?" Kim said, staring at her vanity and imagining the colors she'd grown away from, the simpler things she could give to Pearl.

 

"Yeah? That'd be awesome!" Jason said, sounding excited.

 

Kim grinned. "Great! Remind me before you leave. I'm sure Pearl will be happy."

 

"Yeah," Jason said, a bit less enthusiastically. "You're like her big sister..."

 

"I always wanted a sister," Kim smiled, knocking into Jason gently. "But she's already got the best big brother ever."

 

Jason shifted, flushing. "Right," he said, fiddling with his pen. "We should probably get started, I'm gonna need you to explain it again..."

 

Kim wondered if she'd said something wrong, wondering if Jason was still putting himself down for his past mistakes -- maybe he didn't think he was a good role model for Pearl?

 

"Sure," she said, letting it drop and focusing on the math set Jason was showing her, nodding once and beginning to explain how it was done.

 

\--

 

"It's morphing time!" Jason said, standing tall and looking around at her team, reaching for her armor and the morphing grid and feeling it slide into place.

 

She glanced around to make sure everyone was morphed and ready, trying not to linger on Trini's and Kim's armor and forcing herself not to glance down at her own chest plate. "Let's go!"

 

Putties were still springing up around town, even this many months after Goldar and Rita had been defeated. Alpha-5 thought it had something to do with the "tainted" gold that had seeped into the area when Goldar dissolved, but it wasn't really sure.

 

Regardless of the reason, the Power Rangers were fighting and destroying putties almost bi-weekly. Her least favorite part of it all was protecting the idiot people who got way too close all in the name of getting a picture of them.

 

"Get back!" Billy yelled, voice distorted through the armor for their protection though Jason heard him clearly in her helmet, watching Billy shove some people out of the way of a charging putty and taking the hit himself.

 

"Blue!" she yelled, jumping and landing on top of the putty, crushing it.

 

"I'm fine, Red," Billy said, taking her offered hand, the pair dashing to help the rest of their friends.

 

"Idiot people," Zack said, fighting two putties at once and beating them down with their own body parts.

 

"Let's just focus on getting rid of these guys!" Jason said firmly, in her leader voice, focusing on the fight and not how deep the armor made her voice.

 

They fought the putties until they were just piles of rock and dust, Jason looking around to make sure they hadn't missed any and that no one had been hurt.

 

"Good job," she said, grinning behind her mask and ignoring the flash of cameras. "Let's go."

 

She led the team out of the street, the five of them pouring on speed to make sure they weren't followed, diving straight off the cliff and through the water, heading to the ship to report back to Alpha-5 and Zordon so they could update the map to try to figure out a pattern to the putties' appearances.

 

"I thought for sure that guy was gonna get hit," Zack said, slinging an arm around Billy.

 

"I don't understand people who don't move out of the way," Billy admitted.

 

Kim shrugged. "They get caught up trying to get a picture that'll impress, they don't see the danger."

 

"Idiots," Trini said, echoing Zack from earlier and earning a high-five from the black ranger.

 

"Should we do poses at the end, then, let them get pics?" Zack asked as they entered the ship.

 

Jason shook her head. "That would only encourage more people to stick around when the putties appear."

 

"Maybe we could record a warning message, thanking people for their support but asking them to please keep back to stay safe?" Billy suggested.

 

"And post it online?" Kim asked.

 

"Yes, we could send it to the news outlets, too," Billy said.

 

"Who'd record it?" Trini asked.

 

"J, of course! He's the leader!" Zack said, grinning and letting go of Billy to sling an arm around Jason instead.

 

Jason huffed. "It was Billy's idea, he should do it."

 

"I agree with Zack. You should do it, Jason," Billy said, shaking his head.

 

Jason was saved from having to respond as they reached the command center, Alpha-5 and Zordon both wanting to know how it went.

 

Jason stepped up to give their report, letting the previous conversation drop.

 

"Good job, Rangers," Zordon said once Jason was done.

 

"I'll update the map," Alpha-5 said, moving to do just that.

 

"Demorph and go home," Zordon ordered. "You've earned the night off."

 

Jason turned to see everyone demorphing and grinning, happy to get a night off from training, sighing to herself and letting the armor slowly dissolve and fade, unable to help a jealous glance at the girls' disappearing armor.

 

"Bossman, c'mon," Zack yelled, snapping Jason from her thoughts. "We're gonna do a bonfire."

 

Jason forced a smile, moving over to the where they were all waiting. "As long as you aren't cooking," she teased, following her friends out of the ship.


	2. Chapter 2

"Jason," Sam Scott called out when he heard the front door open and his kids walk inside.

 

"Yeah?" Jason said, heading into the kitchen and finding her dad sitting at the table, dread tightening in her gut.

 

"We need to talk," Sam sighed. "Pearl, can you work in your room for right now?"

 

"Okay," Pearl said, frowning, giving Jason a hug before she left.

 

Jason hugged Pearl back with one arm, shifting her weight. "Yeah?" she repeated.

 

"Sit down," Sam said, watching his son carefully drop his bag and sit on the edge of the chair across from him. "You mind telling me where you were yesterday?"

 

Jason stared at him. "What?"

 

"Where were you yesterday, what did you do all day?" Sam asked.

 

"Uh. Well, school. Then I studied with some friends, came home around dinnertime," Jason answered, nerves making her heart race.

 

"School, huh," Sam said, wondering why Jason felt like he had to lie to him. "That's funny, because the school called this morning to let me know that you skipped school yesterday."

 

"Dad, I--"

 

"And that you've been missing afternoon classes recently," Sam continued over him, studying him.

 

"They're lying, I'm going to school!" Jason protested, heart racing, willing her dad to believe her. She'd only missed a few classes to take care of some putties, yesterday was the first time she'd missed a whole day and that was only because it hadn't seemed worth it, to go in for the afternoon half of the day when attendance was done in the morning...

 

Sam shook his head. "What's going on with you, Jason?"

 

"Nothing, I swear--"

 

"Don't lie to me," Sam said, voice hard.

 

Jason cut herself off, glaring at the table.

 

"You gonna tell me the truth?" Sam asked, but Jason stayed silent and he sighed. "I don't understand you."

 

"Yeah," Jason said bitterly, hands flexing in her lap, wanting to punch something.

 

Sam studied his son and wished he would just talk to him. "Go do your homework," he said, resigned, watching Jason stand up and grab his bag before reaching to the counter and offering him some papers.

 

"What's this?" Jason asked, frowning, taking them.

 

"I told the school you were out yesterday to go to the doctor's, for your knee," Sam said. "That's your sick note. I also told them you'd had to switch your PT timeslot, which is why you'd missed some afternoon classes, but we fixed it and it won't happen again."

 

Jason stared at the papers in her hands, not understanding. She hadn't done PT in _months_ , and she definitely hadn't been to a doctor recently...

 

"Just... be careful, okay? Be safe," Sam said, standing and squeezing her shoulder before leaving the room and heading to his office.

 

Jason stared after him, heart racing, not understanding why her dad had covered for her, what did he think she was doing? He couldn't _know_ , right? No, he'd have said something...

 

For whatever reason, he was going easy on her, giving her a way out, so she took it, slipping the notes into her bag and retreating to her room.

 

\--

 

"Billy! Jason Scott is here!" Mrs. Cranston yelled, smiling at Jason who shifted, offering a small smile in return.

 

"Okay, mom, thanks!" Billy yelled, setting his tools down and heading upstairs.

 

"Hey, Jason," Billy greeted with a smile.

 

"Hey, Billy," Jason said softly, shifting his grip on his bag.

 

"We can study in the dining room, so we can spread out the books," Billy said, leading the way, the pair quickly getting settled and getting to work.

 

"So you just do... that?" Jason asked, balancing the chemistry equation.

 

"Yes, exactly!" Billy grinned, clapping happily. "You did it, Jason!"

 

Jason shifted, smiling at Billy. "Thanks to your tutoring."

 

Billy shook his head. "You did it yourself."

 

"Thanks," Jason said, glancing at his phone. "I should probably head home. See you tomorrow at school?"

 

"Yes," Billy said, standing up. "You'll do great on the quiz."

 

"Hope so," Jason said, nodding his thanks again and ducking out.

 

The next day at school, Billy watched everyone greet Jason, and he noticed something that he hadn't noticed before, eyes narrowing a bit.

 

He watched closely after that, and came to a realization: whenever anyone said Jason's name, he shifted away. It was subtle, which was probably why Billy hadn't noticed sooner, but he moved his weight, swaying in place. And not just in response to Jason, but also to Jase from Kim, or J from Trini, and even Dude or Bossman from Zack.

 

Billy had no idea what this meant, if it was a fluke thing today or if it'd always happened. Since his definition of normal tended to be skewed, he didn't say anything.

 

But it became a habit of his, to check Jason's reaction whenever someone talked to him. He thought it might be because he was still used to people using his name against him -- he heard the whispers, and could still hear them, where people said _oh my god it's Jason Scott_ and they turned his name into a curse word.

 

He didn't want to upset Jason if that was the case, so he just tried to talk to him without using any name at all, which was actually easier than it sounded.

 

They were training after school on a Friday, just an hour to blow off steam since they'd all had some pretty rough tests to get through this week, when Jason flipped Zack over his head.

 

"Woo, go Red!" Trini cheered as Zack groaned.

 

Billy blinked, so used to checking Jason for a reaction that he almost didn't notice that there _wasn't_ one.

 

He watched Jason closely as he and Zack fought, saw him twitch when Kim called him Jase but watched him grin when Zack called for mercy after Jason got him pinned and said, "Damn, Red, I'mma get your ass next time."

 

Billy filed the information away as he and Kim switched in to spar next, but he remembered when they were all splitting up at the bottom of the mountain to head home.

 

"Night, Red," he said, smiling when Jason grinned easily at him.

 

"Night, Blue," Jason said, walking away towards his house, and Billy thought that he almost definitely was carrying an unconscious negative reaction to his name, vowing to try to use Red more often. That one seemed okay, since that was tied to the team, to people who would never use Jason's name against him.

 

\--

 

Jason double checked that all the doors and windows were locked before going to her closet, reaching into the back. She dug under discarded football gear, pulling out a small, fire-proof lockbox that her parents had given her when she was Pearl's age and started getting an allowance so that she'd have a safe place to keep the money.

 

She picked up the box, closing the closet door and walking quickly to the bathroom, shutting and locking that door, too.

 

She turned on the exhaust fan and set the box on the counter, using the small key on her key ring to open the box.

 

There was some money inside, sure, but the box largely contained mismatched makeups and beauty products, even a few small pieces of jewelry.

 

Ignoring those, she dug around and tried to ignore the stab of guilt at seeing some her mom's things hidden here, some from Pearl, and even Kim and Trini... the rest stolen from the local drugstore, hidden in large pockets because she knew there was no way she could ever buy it.

 

Maybe before the prank and the car crash, she could have played it off, a gift for her mom or Pearl or a girlfriend, but now, with how everyone looked at her, like she was a piece of dog shit on everyone's shoe... There was no way she'd be able to play it off, they would call her a freak, tell her parents, and the utter panic that that thought caused washed away the guilt.

 

And some of the things in here... her fingers lingered over the deep red nail polish... they were things she could never wear, not even on a day like this when she had the house to herself for a few hours, because they just took too long to come off, were too bright and vibrant to hide.

 

Shaking herself, she dug around until she found the women's razor and one of her few bath bombs, setting the items on the counter and pulling out her half-empty tube of peel-off face mask and closing the box. She turned to the tub, twisting the tap to get the water running to fill it up.

 

Careful to avoid looking at herself in the mirror, she stripped, testing the temperature of the water and turning the tap off. She dropped in the bath bomb and watched it fizzle and dissolve, lavender scent filling the room and the water turning a light purple.

 

She grabbed the tube of face mask and razor and set them on the edge of the tub, climbing in and settling leaning against the porcelain, smiling a bit. She grabbed the face mask and squirted some out, rubbing it on her face until it was coated, capping the tube.

 

She leaned back, closing her eyes and just enjoying the warm water and the fizz of the bath bomb, muscles relaxing as she soaked. Eventually, she reached for the razor. She took her time, carefully shaving her chest and armpits and legs, propping one foot up at a time, going all the way up her thigh, washing away all the hair and feeling relief at getting rid of it.

 

Eventually, she finished up and carefully stood up, toes and fingers pruned from soaking in the water so long, unplugging the tub and letting it drain while she switched the shower part on and rinsed off, eventually moving to dry off. She turned the tap on to make sure to wash out any remnants of the bath bomb, pulling on briefs and sweatpants, the material sliding against her smooth legs.

 

Double checking the tub was clean, she turned off the water and moved to the counter, carefully beginning to peel the face mask off.

 

She was always grossed out and a little amazed at how much crap was hiding in her skin, looking in the mirror only when she had to to make sure she got it all off, collecting the flakes to bury in her trash in her room -- it was easier to hide in there than in the bathroom, where someone else might see it.

 

Finished, she rinsed the razor out and opened her box, replacing it and the face mask and locking it up once more. She tugged on a baggy t-shirt and left the bathroom, hiding her box back in her closet and burying the face mask remnants in her trash.

 

An hour later with her homework done, she was debating between putting on a movie or going online when the front door opened downstairs. "Jason? We picked up dinner," her mom called.

 

Jason sighed, glancing around to make sure everything was hidden. "Coming!" she yelled back, heading to the stairs.

 

\--

 

"I win!" Zack yelled, landing on the ground with a big splash of displaced water, Jason right behind him and soaking him when he landed, too.

 

Jason laughed, shaking out his hair. "Only 'cause you cheat."

 

"All's fair in love and war," Zack teased, leading the way to the ship.

 

"Too bad we aren't in either," Jason snorted.

 

"Rude," Zack huffed, kicking Jason and bolting for the ship, laughing at the curses and pounding steps that followed him.

 

He whooped in victory when he entered the ship first, moving to their stash of dry clothes and digging through for some of his stuff, finding his track pants and shifting through the shirts, laughing when Jason shoved in next to him.

 

"We should probably sort this," Zack muttered as he looked, giving up and pulling out one of Billy's blue shirts.

 

Jason nodded in agreement, not looking up as Zack began to quickly undress.

 

Zack stripped, not in the least bit self-conscious, pulling on the dry clothes with a contented sigh. He moved to drape the wet clothes over one of the ship's many weird railing nook things, noticing that Jason was still looking through their piles of clothes -- was he studying Kim's skirt?

 

"Need help?" Zack offered with a grin, watching Jason quickly drop the skirt and snickering.

 

"No, ah, thanks," Jason said, quickly pulling out a red t-shirt and sweatpants. "I'm just gonna change," he said, moving to hide from view.

 

"Don't know why you are so shy," Zack teased, used to it by now -- while the others might be okay with occasionally changing in front of each other, Jason always moved to change alone where they couldn't see him.

 

He moved to the pit to wait for Jason, bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning when he finally showed up. "Finally! Let's go, Bossman!"

 

Two hours later and he was pulling Billy's shirt over his head, wondering why he'd even put it on in the first place. The ship had temperature control but sparring for a few hours worked up a good sweat.

 

By hour three, he'd rolled the legs of his pants up, too, shaking his head at Jason. "Aren't you dying?"

 

"I'm fine," Jason said, wiping sweat from his forehead, shirt damp in patches.

 

"What are you gonna do when summer hits? You're gonna have heat stroke!" Zack said, ducking a punch.

 

"I said I'm fine -- worry about yourself," Jason said, swiping his leg at Zack's and sending him flying onto his ass.

 

Zack cursed, landing hard on his ass, pushing himself back up to his feet and launching himself at Jason.

 

By the time they called it quits, they were both panting and sticky with sweat and ended up tied in their number of wins each.

 

They didn't bother changing, Zack just grabbing the shirt he'd worn and the pair instead leaving the ship and heading to the water entrance to jump up and through, the water feeling good after the workout.

 

Zack slicked his hair back once they were on the top of the cliff, watching Jason pull at the wet, clinging material of his t-shirt in disgust.

 

"Just take it off, dude," he laughed.

 

"...It's fine," Jason sighed, shifting his weight and turning to face Zack, forcing himself to stop tugging at the shirt, letting it cling to his body. "Gimme Billy's shirt, I'll wash it with my stuff."

 

"Cool, thanks," Zack said, tossing the wet t-shirt over.

 

"See you tomorrow?" Jason asked.

 

Zack shrugged. "Probably."

 

Jason nodded, accepting that, waving and heading home, clothes squishing uncomfortably.

 

Zack chuckled and shook his head, turning to head to his trailer for a quick shower, idly wondering if he'd ever actually seen Jason shirtless? Or in shorts? He couldn't think of a time he had, but considering they had all become Rangers in the fall, that wasn't too weird, so he shrugged the thought off and kept walking.

 

\--

 

It happened almost entirely on accident. She had given up on finding a name that felt right, having read through a dozen baby name sites and used random name generators, but nothing worked. She'd even asked her mom what her girl would have been, but Samantha was soft in a way that she wasn't and it didn't fit.

 

It wasn't like she could actually _use_ the name, anyway, so what was the point? It was just another thing she wanted and couldn't have, another disappointment.

 

She was doing her homework at her desk, mind drifting and not really focusing on the history reading. She was doodling instead of taking notes, random squiggles that eventually turned into extravagantly curly letters, doodling her initials.

 

She wished for a name so she could try her new curly lettering on it, abbreviating her first name to just the initial and oh. _Oh_.

 

"How's the homework?" her dad asked, startling her. She quickly flipped the page in her notebook.

 

"It's fine, almost done," she answered.

 

Her dad nodded. "I'm picking up an extra run tomorrow -- we need you to watch your sister after detention."

 

She watched her dad grimace at the mention of her weekly Saturday detention, nodding quickly. "Okay," she agreed, making a note to text the team that Saturday practice was cancelled.

 

Her dad nodded, glancing around awkwardly. "Good. I'll let you finish up."

 

She waited until she was sure he was gone before flipping her notebook page back and staring at the page, at the curly J. Lee Scott written in the margins. J. Lee. Jaylee.

 

 _That's me_ , she thought, fear and excitement churning in her gut.

 

Later, when everyone else was asleep, she opened up the video app on her phone and checked her favorite makeup and vlog channels on the secret account she had made. Her heart raced as she clicked to edit her profile and changed her username to Jaylee.

 

Accepting the edit and reloading the page, she broke down crying when it happily greeted her. _Welcome, Jaylee!_


	3. Chapter 3

Jaylee moved quickly, locking up the house and grabbing her lockbox, shutting herself up in the bathroom. She had a solid three hours before she'd have to worry about cleanup and she didn't want to waste a second of it.

 

She propped her phone on the counter as she dug around and pulled out the different things that she would need, loading the video she'd bookmarked a week ago. It was a new one from her favorite makeup artist and the look was _amazing_ and she wanted to try it.

 

She followed along slowly, priming her face, applying highlighter and contouring and blending, making it work despite none of it _quite_ being her skin tone's natural shades. She didn't have any setting powder, but then again she wasn't doing this look to last so she skipped that step, moving on to her eyes.

 

It took a while to get the gradient right because she didn't quite have the shades for it, but when she finished and looked in the mirror... it actually didn't look that bad. It was even, which was the hardest part according to everyone she watched, and the purple color actually made her eyes look really bright.

 

Encouraged, she picked up the eyeliner she'd stolen from Kim and watched that part of the video, rewatching a few times until she felt confident enough to try, leaning close to the mirror and keeping her hand steady, wanting to do the wings at the ends.

 

These didn't end up quite as even, but she didn't hate it, putting on mascara and then picking out a lip color from the few she had. She ended up with a nude color that just made her lips a bit pinker and shinier.

 

She finished, pressing her lips together one last time, before leaning back and blinking at herself in the mirror.

 

She reached up to tug at her hair, at the way it was just starting to curl behind her ears -- getting long, her dad mentioned going for a cut soon just the other day -- but the curl helped with the image she was trying to create, able to imagine her hair longer and fuller and framing her face.

 

Smiling to herself, she grabbed the bottle of clear nail polish she'd borrowed from Pearl and sat on the edge of the tub to apply a fresh coat to her nails -- this at least she could keep on and no one noticed.

 

She nearly dropped the bottle when her phone started ringing on the counter, only her faster reflexes saving it from spilling everywhere. She set it aside and reached for her phone, heart racing. Zack?

 

"Hello?" she said, answering and immediately bolting up into a stand at the chaos on the other line. "Zack?!"

 

"Putties!" Zack shouted, a loud crash sounding as she got an earful of Mandarin curses. "At work, I can't -- fucking -- _morph_!"

 

"Hold on, we're coming!" Jaylee said, hanging up and quickly dialing Trini. "Putties are attacking Zack at work, he can't morph!" she shouted, shoving makeup into her lockbox and hanging up on Trini when she started cursing, knowing she'd get to Zack as fast as possible.

 

She slammed the box closed, looking around frantically for anything she missed as she called Kim and repeated the message, hanging up and dialing Billy last. She hung up and spun around, meeting her own panicked eyes in the mirror.

 

_The makeup!_

 

Zack needed her, needed everyone, she didn't have time to remove it properly, it took _forever_ to take off eye stuff, why did she do a full face...!

 

She didn't have a choice -- her team needed her. She ran out of the room, hiding her box and throwing open her bedroom window, morphing and jumping out, belatedly hoping none of the neighbors were watching as she ran into town.

 

Trini was already there, smashing putties who were destroying the diner where Zack was a waiter. "Black?!" she yelled, shoving in right next to Trini.

 

"Don't know!" Trini answered, frustration and worry clear in her tone if you knew her.

 

Kim and Billy showed up just as they made it inside, people hiding in the booths screaming and crying in terror, most of the place destroyed, with another six putties bashing their way into the back.

 

"Pink, get the people out of here," Jaylee ordered firmly. "Blue, Yellow, let's finish this!"

 

She charged forward with Billy and Trini, leaving Kim to get everyone out and away from the diner, searching for Zack but unable to call his name, as that would be too dangerously close to revealing his identity.

 

Trini and Billy made a hole in the putties and Jaylee dove through it, finding Zack backed into a storage closet with two girls hiding behind him, the teen brandishing a mop.

 

Relief flooded her that Zack was okay, tapping her helmet to switch to internal comms. "Found Zack, he's okay," she said, switching back to the open channel. "It's okay, you're safe," she said, grinning back at Zack though he couldn't see it through her mask, turning back around to fight the putties from this side.

 

The putties were quickly turned to dust with three rangers focused on them, and Jaylee helped Zack lead the two girls out, who seemed to be in shock.

 

Kim stepped up to join them as they exited the diner -- or what was left of it -- Jaylee watching the girls and Zack head over to the rest of their coworkers. She nodded at Zack, then tilted her head in the direction of the mine, watching him grin and hoping he'd gotten the message.

 

"Let's go!" she said, leading the morphed rangers away and up to the mine, stopping them at the cliff overlooking the water entrance to the ship.

 

"That was crazy!" Billy said once they were alone.

 

Kim nodded. "I'm just glad Zack's okay."

 

"He should be here in a minute," Jaylee said. "If he got my message."

 

"Do you think the putties knew he was there, did they attack _him_?" Trini asked, hard edge in her voice.

 

"You think...?" Kim asked, clearly not having thought of that.

 

Jaylee shook her head. "I don't know. But I think we all need to be extra careful, now."

 

"You got that right," Zack said, huffing as he ran up.

 

"Zack!" Kim said, hugging him. "You okay?"

 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Kinda weird to be hugging you when I'm not morphed, too," Zack laughed, the press of the armor interesting to feel on this side.

 

They laughed, all demorphing.

 

"So were you really planning on fighting putties with a mop?" Trini asked, punching Zack's shoulder, teasing.

 

Zack rolled his eyes, knowing he'd worried her -- worried everyone. "Well I had to do something! There were too many people, I couldn't morph, and it's not like I could let them see me smash them with my bare hands, either," he protested.

 

"That was quick thinking," Billy agreed, smiling at him.

 

"See, Billy approves," Zack laughed. "I'm just glad Bossman got the bat signal out to you guys so quickly!" he continued, turning to grin at Jason, blinking in confusion.

 

Jaylee had gotten so caught up in the relief of getting to Zack in time, protecting the team, adrenaline crashing as they all joked and laughed and everyone was okay, that when they demorphed, she did, too, without thinking, it an ingrained habit.

 

She'd forgotten about the makeup, until Zack was suddenly grinning at her in confusion and now everyone was staring.

 

Her heart started racing, stomach dropping out completely, feeling like she was going to be sick, breaths short and panicked. She quickly pulled on her armor, the morphing grid responding to her fear -- she was _terrified_ , she'd ruined _everything_ \-- and quickly morphed again.

 

"I'll report to Zordon, you guys go home," she said quickly, voice shaking, throwing herself off the edge of the cliff and sailing into the water with a splash.

 

She stumbled as she landed, looking up but no one was following her which was good... oh god... what was she going to _do_ , what could she possibly tell them to make this okay?

 

She felt like the walls were closing in around her, finding it hard to breathe, tears pricking her eyes though she tried her best to swallow them down.

 

It took ten minutes before she felt controlled enough to walk to the ship, shoving everything down -- she was good at that, she'd handle it, tell them she was playing with Pearl, make any excuse, bury it -- and heading to the command room.

 

"Master Jason?" Alpha-5 said, clearly surprised to see her.

 

"The putties attacked Zack at work," Jaylee said shortly, giving Zordon and Alpha-5 the full report of what had happened.

 

"You did a good job of protecting your team," Zordon said. "But it's troubling to think the putties would have enough access to Rita's lingering power to be able to track you..."

 

"So this wasn't a coincidence," Jaylee said, worried.

 

"I'll run some scans," Alpha-5 said.

 

"Be cautious," Zordon said, Jaylee nodding and heading out.

 

She walked slowly back to the water entrance, staring up at it, trying to psych herself up. It was fine, she'd told Kim Pearl likes to do makeup for other people, she could just lie and say Pearl did it, they'd probably tease her a bit but they'd accept it as her being a good sibling.

 

Comforting herself with the thought, she jumped back up and landed on the cliff, standing and stilling at the sight of everyone sitting around, apparently waiting for her.

 

"What did Zordon say?" Trini asked when no one moved or said anything, Jaylee keeping her armor on.

 

"He doesn't think it was a coincidence, he thinks the putties are pulling on Rita's power to track us," Jaylee answered.

 

"What about our families?" Zack asked, worry clear in his tone and posture.

 

"We'll protect them, all of them," Jaylee promised, voice firm. "Alpha-5's working on something, maybe it can find the source."

 

"We can't be with our families all the time, though," Kim said, worrying her lip, glancing at Jaylee and then away, Jaylee not quite prepared for the _hurt_ that stabbed through her in response.

 

"They should only be able to track us, though, so when we aren't with them, our families are probably safer," Billy pointed out.

 

"Great," Trini muttered.

 

"We'll figure it out," Jaylee said, already mentally preparing to do nightly checks on the town, to up their awareness.

 

They fell silent, all worried and trying to think of ways to protect everyone.

 

"Jase?" Kim said hesitantly.

 

Jaylee stiffened, heart picking up, hands flexing. "...Yeah?"

 

"It's... okay, if you like makeup," Kim said hesitantly, Billy nodding encouragingly next to her.

 

"That's not a girls-only thing, you know. I do eyeliner all the time," Zack added.

 

Trini rolled her eyes. "We know, Zack, you always run around yelling at us to look when you get it winged."

 

"Well, yeah, you guys gotta appreciate my art," Zack grinned.

 

"So it's okay," Kim said, smiling at Jaylee. "You're still a guy even if you like it."

 

"We would never make fun of you for something you liked," Billy said earnestly.

 

"Well, we'd probably tease," Zack mused, yelping when Trini smacked him. "What, I'm being honest! We wouldn't take it too far, though!"

 

"It's fine," Jaylee choked out, grateful to the armor for making her voice even. "It was Pearl anyway--"

 

"I thought Pearl had gymnastics class on Thursdays," Billy said, frowning.

 

"Yeah, don't you usually have the house to yourself today if your dad is working, since your mom has to take her to the class?" Kim added.

 

Jaylee sucked in a breath in panic -- why did they all know her family's schedule?! -- stammering out, "Y-yeah."

 

"Look, Kim was right. It's cool if you like traditionally feminine stuff," Trini said, tackling it head on and not wasting any words, something Jaylee usually loved her for but now was making her heart race and her palms sweat and her eyes burn. "We've all seen you dancing around some stuff and we just want you to know you don't have to hide anything from us. You're still Jason, the Red Ranger, regardless of what you like. And society's gender roles are fucking useless anyway, so fuck them. Do what you want, J. We've got your back."

 

"Yeah, dude," Zack said. "It's totally cool, do what you want. You're still a guy and besides, girly shit is fun sometimes."

 

"Well, as long as what you want isn't, like, mass murder," Kim teased. "We aren't jerks who would judge you for something like this, Jase."

 

"Well, technically, we are all mass murderers considering how many putties we have killed," Billy pointed out. "They are technically sentient so I think it counts as murder when we stop them."

 

"Okay, so you can even be a mass murderer," Kim laughed.

 

"Not of people," Billy clarified, "just putties. But yes, you should be able to like what you want. We're your friends."

 

"I..." Jaylee said, not knowing what to do, listening to their support but for the wrong thing, shaking because she should just accept it, it'd make everything so much easier, but that felt like she'd be confirming she was _guy_ and she _wasn't_ and while she'd never told anyone she was a woman, she'd also never told anyone she was a _man_ , either, people just took one look at her and assumed and it would break something in her to confirm that assumption.

 

"J, we're good," Trini said, smiling softly. "You're a badass dude, even in purple eyeshadow."

 

"Seriously, man, I didn't get that good a look but damn your liner is on point," Zack complimented easily.

 

"Jason," Kim said softly. "It's okay, I promise. We don't see you any differently, you're still a guy, the leader... our friend."

 

They all just kept saying it, over and over, just assuming that she was a guy who liked makeup and that was fine -- _Zack_ was a guy who liked makeup -- but that wasn't her, and her chest ached and her eyes burned and she just needed them to stop _saying it_.

 

"I'm not," she said, all of them blinking at her in confusion and she flexed her hands, terrified, god, so terrified but somehow the idea of coming out to them was less terrifying then accepting the lie. She was so tired of pretending and they were asking her to basically say the pretend life she presented was the real one when it _wasn't_ and the reckless courage that got her into all the trouble she'd ever been in in her life welled up and she couldn't hold it back. She refused to.

 

"Not what?" Kim asked confused.

 

"A guy," Jaylee answered, keeping her head up because if she was doing this, she was _doing this_. "I'm not a guy."

 

"Okay," Zack said slowly, dragging the word out, clearly confused.

 

"I'm a girl. I've always been a girl. You all just assume, _everyone assumes_ I'm a guy but I'm _not_ ," Jaylee said, breathing in short pants, feeling lightheaded with how hard her heart was beating. "I'm a girl."

 

"You're trans?" Trini asked, the first to get it.

 

Jaylee nodded, studying the rest of them.

 

"Fuck," Zack whispered, eyes wide, staring at her.

 

"Oh my god," Kim said, sharing a look with Billy.

 

"What's your name?" Trini asked, stepping forward.

 

"Jaylee," Jaylee answered, voice a bit shaky because she'd never actually said it out loud.

 

Trini nodded. "Hi, Jaylee. I'm Trini," she said, offering her hand.

 

Jaylee stared at her, glancing down at her hand then back up at her face, cautiously reaching out to shake her hand.

 

Trini gripped her hand tight. "Can you demorph?" she asked quietly.

 

Jaylee glanced around, they were all staring again, it looked like Kim might start crying, and she was confused and scared. But it's not like she was hiding anything now, they knew, so she let the armor dissolve, letting go of Trini's hand.

 

She stumbled back a step when Trini hugged her tight, cautiously returning the hug, just waiting for them to shove her away, call her a freak, tell her to give up her power coin...

 

"I'm sorry," Trini said when she pulled back, "for assuming. I'm so sorry."

 

"Me too!" Billy said, stepping up closer but not touching her. "I saw that you didn't seem to like your name, but I didn't guess... I'm sorry. I should have asked."

 

"I'm so sorry, Jase -- fuck, I'm sorry," Kim said, pulling her into a hug and feeling her flinch at her slip up. "I'm sorry."

 

Zack punched her on the arm -- when had he walked over? -- grinning at her. "Just like I thought, killer liner, girl," he said, and it was something about the easy acceptance in his voice -- in all their voices -- that made the tears Jaylee had been swallowing down finally spill over.

 

They all moved to hug her, collapsing into a pile right there on top of the cliff and letting her cry.

 

She clung to them, afraid they would leave, slowly calming down, makeup ruined now and smeared by her tears.

 

"It's... this is really okay?" she asked, trembling.

 

"Of course it is," Kim said firmly.

 

Jaylee wiped at her face. "I look like a freak," she mumbled, knowing she wasn't as pretty as Kim or Trini and knowing she'd ruined her makeup and knowing that it didn't look quite as right on her as it did on _real_ women.

 

"Hey," Trini said, waiting for Jaylee to meet her eyes. "You are not a freak."

 

"You're fucking gorgeous," Zack said.

 

"You are really pretty," Billy agreed.

 

Jaylee laughed, wiping away tears and snot, looking around at them all.

 

"So, you've really been a girl the whole time?" Kim asked.

 

Jaylee nodded, nerves coiling.

 

"Why didn't you tell us?" Billy asked.

 

Jaylee sighed. "I'm _Jason Scott_ ," she said, mouth twisting around the name she hated. "You wouldn't have believed me."

 

"Dumbass, of course we would have," Trini said, smacking her shoulder.

 

"Yeah, dude," Zack said, feeling Jaylee stiffen and stiffening himself. "Ah, shit, sorry. Dudette."

 

"It's fine, I'm used to it," Jaylee said.

 

"That's bullshit," Kim said. "You should get to be who you are and be called what you want."

 

"Definitely," Zack agreed.

 

"Does anyone else know?" Billy asked.

 

Jaylee shook her head. "No..."

 

"We'll keep the secret," Trini promised, not about to forcibly out her.

 

Jaylee slumped into them, not sure she really believed this was happening but relieved at how it was going. "Thank you," she whispered.

 

"C'mon, we're having an emergency sleepover at my place," Kim decided. "My parents are out of town, and we need to get to know Jaylee better."

 

"Good idea," Billy grinned.

 

"I'm totally in," Zack said.

 

"Red?" Trini asked, smiling at her -- you're still the leader of this team.

 

Jaylee sucked in a breath, smiling hesitantly. "Okay."


	4. Chapter 4

When Jaylee walked into school the next day, she felt overly self-conscious, heading straight for her locker. She'd stayed at Kim's with everyone else the night before, only running home this morning for new clothes, and despite everyone's continued acceptance all throughout last night's movie marathon, she couldn't help but brace for the other shoe to drop.

 

"Hey!" Kim said as she walked over with Billy. "Why'd you run out this morning? You missed breakfast."

 

Jaylee shrugged, embarrassed and nervous. "Needed new clothes," she answered.

 

Billy frowned. "We all did," he pointed out.

 

Jaylee just shrugged again, closing her locker as Trini walked up. "No Zack?"

 

"He's checking on his mom and the diner, he'll be here," Trini answered. "Missed you this morning."

 

"Sorry," Jaylee said, ducking her head.

 

Kim frowned, sighing when the warning bell went off. "We'll talk at lunch, okay?"

 

"See you!" Billy said, walking to his homeroom.

 

Jaylee nodded at Kim, feeling Trini watch her as she walked away, going to her own homeroom and just trying to pay attention in class.

 

"J!" Zack yelled, bouncing up to her when she entered the cafeteria, startling her.

 

"No good?" Zack asked, having tried to think of new nickname all morning that they could use when out in public without freaking Jaylee out.

 

"Uh, no, it's fine," Jaylee said, "when did you get here?"

 

"Just came for lunch, I'm helping with clean up at the diner," Zack said, walking with Jaylee as she went through the lunch line to get food.

 

Jaylee bought food for Zack automatically as she went. "How bad is it?"

 

Zack shrugged. "Could be better, could be worse."

 

Jaylee nodded, paying and following Zack to their table.

 

"Well?" Billy asked, wanting to know how this name compared so he could add it to his chart ranking them.

 

"No good," Zack said, sitting down.

 

"What?" Jaylee asked, confused and looking between them.

 

"We need a codeword, dude -- shit," Zack said. "Sorry."

 

"Only here for one period and already messing up," Trini teased, dodging Zack's kick under the table.

 

"I told you guys, it's fine," Jaylee said, having told them last night that _Jason_ was fine. It was fine.

 

"And we told you: no it's not," Kim said firmly.

 

"Hmm, I didn't think that would work," Billy said to Zack. "We've used it before."

 

"Yeah, but it's the same abbreviation for both," Zack groaned.

 

Billy shook his head. "That's why it won't work."

 

"Sorry," Jaylee muttered.

 

"For what?" Trini asked, raising an eyebrow, daring her to say something.

 

"Being complicated," Jaylee said, holding Trini's eyes, not backing down.

 

"Guys..." Kim said, trying to stop a fight, knowing they were both stubborn.

 

"Ha, I'm not the only one!" Zack said, weirdly happy Kim messed up, too -- they weren't messing up on purpose, it was just hard to break old habits!

 

Kim glared at Zack. " _People_ ," she said, glaring harder when he snickered. "Let's just calm down."

 

"What? Everything's fine," Jaylee said, breaking Trini's gaze at last and shoving Zack's food at him to eat.

 

"Yes, it is," Trini agreed.

 

Jaylee started eating and watched in growing fascination as they all talked around it, the literal elephant in the room, avoiding gender all together and not giving her a name at all. This was definitely better than being misgendered, but it kind of made her feel invisible, too.

 

"What about they/them?" Billy asked suddenly.

 

"Huh?" Jaylee asked, not understanding.

 

"As pronouns," Billy said.

 

"They exist?" Jaylee said, glancing around, realizing what Billy was asking but not wanting anyone to overhear, shifting uncomfortably.

 

"Do you think people are okay to use them?" Kim asked, seeing her hesitation and trying to disguise the question.

 

Jaylee smiled gratefully at her. "Yeah. I mean, sure. They sound good."

 

"Woot, one problem down!" Zack grinned, slinging an arm over Jaylee.

 

"I'm a problem?" Jaylee said, mostly teasing.

 

Trini kicked Zack. "No, Zack's the problem."

 

"Triniiiiii," Zack whined. "Why are you so mean?"

 

"Why are you so dumb?" Trini countered.

 

"Children," Kim said mildly, sharing a smile with Jaylee.

 

The bell went off and they all stood up. "Meet at 5?" Jaylee asked, glancing around. Training at 5?

 

"6 is better for me," Zack said, knowing he'd need time to check on his mom after work.

 

Jaylee nodded. "Okay, 6," she said firmly, everyone nodding in return.

 

"I want a full report!" Zack grinned, pointing a finger at her. "Any more mistakes, I wanna know!"

 

Jaylee rolled her eyes, punching him lightly. "Get out of here."

 

"See ya!" Zack grinned, splitting from them to head to the diner instead of to class.

 

"He's an idiot," Trini sighed.

 

Kim grinned. "But he's our idiot."

 

Jaylee laughed. "Agreed... see you later!"

 

\--

 

Jaylee got to the ship early, changing from her wet clothes into dry ones they kept there and heading to the command room to check in.

 

"Any progress?" she asked, walking around the morphing grid to stand in front of Zordon, Alpha-5 walking over with her.

 

"Not yet," Alpha-5 said, making a whirling sound that was its sigh. "But it does appear some of Rita's power was left in the gold that dissolved."

 

"Great," Jaylee muttered.

 

"We are trying to track the source," Zordon said. "But with her power weak and scattered it is hard to pinpoint."

 

"I guess we should be thankful it's not any stronger," Jaylee sighed, really hoping for a day when Rita was finally done messing with them.

 

"You beat her once, you can do it again," Alpha-5 said encouragingly. "This is just an echo, anyway."

 

"Just... keep looking. More of them are forming at once, and with the attack on Zack... we can't always get there before people get hurt," Jaylee said, frustrated with their limitations in protecting the town.

 

"Yes, Master Jason," Alpha-5 said.

 

Jaylee just nodded. "I'm going to warm up in the pit," she said.

 

"Shouldn't you wait for the others?" Alpha-5 questioned, knowing they were all quite capable fighters and training was more about learning team tactics nowadays.

 

"Let him train," Zordon said, proud of Jason for working hard to protect his team and the crystal.

 

Jaylee started walking out of the room, steps stuttering when she saw the team walking in, Zack frowning and rubbing his side where Trini had just elbowed him.

 

"Okay?" she asked, glancing at everyone, noting Billy's pensive frown and how Kim was glancing at Zordon and Alpha-5 and then back at her.

 

"We're good," Trini said firmly.

 

Jaylee nodded slowly, feeling like she was missing something but trusting Trini, wondering if they were having second-thoughts about her, resolving to shove everything down and go back to how things used to be.

 

They walked to the pit in silence, Jaylee pausing to look at them again, keeping her head up. She was the leader, everything was fine.

 

"Three versus two to warm up," Jaylee decided.

 

"Girls against guys?" Zack said, something devious in his eyes.

 

Jaylee swallowed, straightening her shoulders. "Sure," she said, waiting for Kim and Trini to move aside, moving to stand with Billy and Zack.

 

"What are you doing?" Zack said, staring at her.

 

"What?" Jaylee said warily.

 

"Zack!" Trini hissed, glaring, but he ignored her.

 

"You're on the wrong team," Zack said, nodding to Kim and Trini.

 

Jaylee flushed. "No I'm not."

 

"Yes, you are," Zack insisted. "Is it cause of Zordon and Alpha-5? They are aliens, dudette, they don't care."

 

"Zack," Jaylee said, warning in her tone but also something fragile. She was fine with going back to pretending, that would be better than _this_ , starting to feel panicked.

 

"Zack, that's enough!" Trini ordered.

 

"C'mon, Red, this is our space. Where else you gonna be yourself?" Zack coaxed, voice soft.

 

"I can't," Jaylee said, some panic bleeding into her voice. "I can't lose this."

 

"You wouldn't lose this," Billy said, earning himself his own glare from Trini. "You're the leader, the Red Ranger. We need you, and so do they."

 

"Besides, if they kicked you out, we'd quit," Kim said, shrugging at Trini. "Sorry, Trin, but Zack's right -- they won't care and this way she can finally have someplace to be herself."

 

"Coming out is _your_ choice," Trini said to Jaylee. "And we'll support you either way," she added, glaring at everyone else.

 

"C'mon, Red," Zack muttered.

 

Jaylee looked around at them all, taking a deep breath. They accepted her, they would fight for her, and she'd be flat out lying if she said she didn't crave someplace to just let her guard down and be herself.

 

She walked over to Kim and Trini.

 

Zack whooped, laughing. "Yeah! All right, ladies, you are going down!"

 

Jaylee grinned a little, launching herself at Zack and then they were all sparring and laughing. She twirled effortlessly between Kim and Trini, knowing their moves just as she knew Zack's and Billy's and they all knew hers, the girls eventually winning.

 

"You win," Billy conceded with a smile.

 

"Only cause they outnumbered us," Zack added from the ground.

 

Trini snorted. "Wanna go one on one?"

 

Zack groaned.

 

"Didn't think so," Trini smirked.

 

"Okay, let's bring up some putties. Alpha-5?" Jaylee called out, the robot soon appearing. "Can you start the program? Trini and Bill first," she said, offering Zack a hand to pull him up and move with him and Kim to the edge for some tag team practices.

 

"Certainly, Master Jason," Alpha-5 said, nodding its head.

 

"Wrong," Zack said, waiting for Alpha-5 to turn to blink at him. "Her name is Jaylee," he said, nodding at Jason.

 

"Jay... lee?" Alpha-5 repeated, confused.

 

Jaylee flushed. "Jason's fine," she muttered, embarrassed.

 

"No, it's okay, Jaylee, I'm sure Alpha-5 doesn't mind," Billy said encouragingly.

 

"No, of course not," Alpha-5 said, "Master Jaylee it is then."

 

"Mistress," Zack corrected in a bored tone, Kim smacking him. "What?" he protested. "Master is wrong, too!"

 

"Jaylee is a girl, okay, Alpha-5?" Trini said, hands on her hips.

 

"Oh," Alpha-5 said. "Has that always been the case?"

 

"Yes," Kim answered before Jaylee could.

 

Alpha-5 nodded. "My apologies, then! The scanners must have malfunctioned when you first arrived, humans look so similar..."

 

Scanners? Jaylee blushed, feeling like a freak, able to guess exactly what the 'scanners' had shown Alpha-5, hunching in on herself to try to make herself smaller.

 

"See? It's fine, girl," Zack said, nudging her gently.

 

"Shall I call up the putty program now, Mistress Jaylee?" Alpha-5 asked.

 

Jaylee's blush brightened, nodding once. "Yeah."

 

Alpha-5 nodded and then the putties started forming, Trini and Billy turning to face them.

 

Kim reached out to grab Jaylee's hand and squeeze. "You okay?" she whispered.

 

"Yeah," Jaylee said back, voice a little hoarse, clinging to Kim's hand and swallowing down a lump of emotion, feeling shaky with embarrassment and nerves and relief.

 

\--

 

Jaylee shifted her grip on her bag, giving Kim a small smile when she opened the door.

 

"Hey!" Kim said, waving her inside. "Trini just got here, too."

 

Jaylee nodded, following Kim up to her bedroom, nodding at the yellow ranger and getting a nod in return.

 

"Okay, so I've got out my stuff and Trini brought some of hers, too," Kim said, gesturing to the piles of beauty products on Kim's bed. "Did you bring yours?"

 

"Yeah," Jaylee said, not putting down her duffle bag though. "Look, we don't have to do this," she said, glancing between them.

 

"What? It's girls night," Kim said. "That includes you, too."

 

Jaylee smiled a little at that. "Yeah, but I'm..." she trailed off, waving a hand at herself instead.

 

"Tall?" Trini suggested.

 

"Have an athletic build?" Kim added, grinning.

 

"White?" Trini said, laughing.

 

Jaylee huffed, some nerves leaving. "It's not gonna look as good on me," she said at last.

 

"Then we're doing it wrong," Kim said firmly, sitting next to Trini on her bed and patting the covers. "Now, c'mon, show us your collection, klepto."

 

Jaylee sat down, slowly opening her bag and digging past her clothes for the night and tomorrow to pull out her lockbox. She unlocked it and opened the lid, letting Kim and Trini look through.

 

"I was wondering where this pencil went," Trini muttered.

 

Jaylee flushed. "Sorry."

 

"It's fine, I bought another one," Trini said, dismissing it.

 

"Well, it looks like you have some decent stuff," Kim said, "But you could definitely use some better foundations and contouring colors. I don't think Trini and I will have anything that matches you."

 

"Yeah, that's okay," Jaylee said, knowing as much.

 

Trini picked up nail polish. "Do you wear this?"

 

Jaylee shook her head. "No, it'd be too easy to see and I can't explain it," she said, shrugging.

 

"But you want to?" Kim guessed.

 

Jaylee nodded.

 

"What about just your toes?" Kim said.

 

Jaylee shook her head again. "My family could still see it."

 

"What about the clear ones?" Trini asked.

 

Jaylee nodded. "I have some -- I've worn that."

 

"Oh good, we can totally do manis/pedis then!" Kim said, smiling.

 

"Okay," Jaylee agreed shyly, not too confident doing this with other girls ( _real_ girls).

 

"Great!" Kim grinned. "Will you let us do your face, too?"

 

"She wants someone to experiment on and I won't let her do me," Trini said with an eye roll.

 

"Hey!" Kim protested. "I like doing makeup for other people, okay, it's fun. I can't help that your style is boring."

 

"It gets the job done," Trini said. "And I like it, so."

 

Kim sighed, turning to Jaylee and smiling hopefully. "So, can I do your makeup? Please?"

 

"I... if you really want to?" Jaylee said, nervous but smiling when Kim cheered.

 

Two hours later, when she was finally allowed to look in the mirror after Kim reminded her that it'd look better once they could buy the right shades of foundation for her, she stared at her face and almost didn't recognize it. Kim (with Trini's help) had done a much better job than she ever had, and she looked... feminine. Pretty.

 

"Wow," she breathed, looking away from her reflection to meet Kim's eyes in the mirror.

 

"You're gorgeous," Kim grinned.

 

"Definitely," Trini agreed.

 

" _Thank you_ ," Jaylee said, smiling wide.

 

Both girls grinned at her. "No need to thank us, this was fun and the night is still young! And maybe later we can talk clothes?"

 

"Clothes?" Jaylee repeated, turning from the mirror to face them.

 

"Let's not overwhelm her," Trini said, knowing how Kim could be.

 

Kim stuck her tongue out. "Fine, spoilsport. Then let's put on a movie for manis/pedis!"


	5. Chapter 5

Jaylee cursed as her science textbook tumbled from her locker and she didn't move fast enough, the book slamming onto her foot and making her toes throb. Everything was going wrong today and she'd only been awake for an hour.

 

"You okay?" Zack asked, leaning against the locker next to hers.

 

"Fine," Jaylee bit out, picking the stupid textbook up and slamming the locker closed, turning to face Zack since he was actually in school today and unable to stop her jealousy of his smaller frame compared to hers, feeling too big and too male today.

 

"Okay," Zack said carefully, concern in his eyes.

 

"I'm fine," Jaylee sighed. "You ready for classes?"

 

"Yeah, I'm set, finished up the work last night for the week," Zack grinned. She was still kind of amazed he was able to pass when he barely showed up twice a week.

 

"Good," Jaylee said, knowing he worked hard. She saw the girls and Billy coming, watching the way Kim's skirt swayed as she walked and the way Trini's shirt hugged her frame and the way they looked effortless in different ways.

 

"Any reason you're glaring at our friends?" Zack muttered, snapping her out of it.

 

Jaylee flushed, embarrassed. "Sorry, zoned out."

 

"You okay?" Kim asked with a frown when they all reached them, noting that Jaylee was flushed and seemed off.

 

"Fine... I'll see you guys for lunch, okay?" Jaylee said, trying to smile before walking away, missing the looks they all shared.

 

By the time the bell rang for their lunch period, Jaylee was seriously debating just ditching the rest of the day, wanting to just go back to bed.

 

She dragged her feet to the cafeteria, surprised when Billy stepped over to her, apparently waiting for her.

 

"We're going to sit outside today," Billy informed her, helping her through the lunch line quickly and then leading her outside, to the tables set up for students to use. They didn't stop at any of them, Billy continuing to walk right past, until they'd left the other students behind.

 

"Guys?" Jaylee asked, confused to eventually find the rest of their friends sitting on the ground on the side of school in the shade of the trees.

 

Kim patted the blanket they were sitting on. "Sit with us," she encouraged, smiling.

 

Jaylee sat, looking around at them all and watching Billy sit, too. "Why are we all the way over here?"

 

"It's a nice day for a picnic," Billy said.

 

"Okay," Jaylee said, dragging the word out.

 

"We're alone over here," Trini added.

 

"So you can be you, girl," Zack said, nudging her gently.

 

Jaylee stiffened, fear and nerves circling in her gut.

 

"We're alone," Trini repeated, voice firm.

 

Jaylee nodded, staring down at her too-big hands, trying to settle.

 

"Give me your hands," Kim said, pulling out a bottle of clear nail polish.

 

"What?" Jaylee said, staring at her, at the nail polish.

 

"It'll make you feel better," Kim smiled, reaching out to take Jaylee's hand and start applying a fresh coat of polish when she didn't resist.

 

"We did some research, on ways to combat dysphoria," Billy said, "and this was one of them, which Kim and Trini said you do sometimes anyway."

 

"I..." Jaylee said, not really knowing what to say, hunching her shoulders a bit.

 

"We got you this, too," Trini said, setting some chapstick on the blanket in front of her. "Not as good as lip gloss, but you can apply it in class all you want."

 

"And you can wear these," Zack added, slipping off some of the rings he wore, and one of the bracelets. "They won't look out of place to anyone else, but they might help you feel pretty, too."

 

"Guys..." Jaylee said, not knowing what to say, touched they were all trying to help, had researched coping mechanisms for her.

 

"Next time you're having a bad day, tell us at the start," Kim said, finishing one hand and moving to the other.

 

"We can help," Billy added, pulling out his phone. "Now, you should pick some music, because that's supposed to help, too."

 

By the time they were heading back inside to finish the day, Jaylee had a fresh coat of clear nail polish on her nails, chapstick on her lips, Zack's rings and bracelet on, and a new girl-power playlist saved in her phone they had spent most of the period making.

 

It didn't make the dysphoria completely go away, but it helped, and when she sat down for class and felt too big and too masculine, she twirled a ring on her finger or studied her nails or put on more chapstick or scrolled through the playlist and remembered that she wasn't alone.

 

\--

 

Jaylee knew they'd been mostly lucky, with most putties forming at the edges of town and the rangers able to get to them without a whole lot of damage being done -- the diner was actually the first building they'd lost to putty destruction in months -- but apparently their luck had run out.

 

The alarm went off while she was in history class, blaring loud and startling everyone. The teacher paled, voice slightly shaking. "All right, everyone, that's the evacuation alarm, move quick and quiet!"

 

Jaylee was pulling out her phone to text the others -- this didn't seem like a drill -- when she heard a loud crash and screams coming from the floor below. Everyone started panicking, the teacher trying to get everyone to the fire exit, the halls flood with people. She sent a group text that something was wrong at the school, ground floor of the right wing, and she was going to check it out, pocketing her phone and slipping through the crowds.

 

She ducked down the empty stairwell, able to hear more crashing and screaming, moving cautiously. She reached the bottom and peered around the corner just in time to see a putty burst out of a classroom, just able to see a hole in the wall behind it -- it'd just walked right into the school.

 

Dammit. This was their fault, the putties were tracking them and with four of them here... She ducked back into the stairwell, glancing around to make sure she was alone, before pulling on her armor and morphing.

 

Adrenaline pumping, she leapt out and headed straight for the putty, smashing into it only to get knocked to the side by a second putty she hadn't seen, crashing through the wall.

 

"Red!" Trini yelled, running over to her already morphed, offering her hand and pulling her up, faltering.

 

"Let's go!" Jaylee said, except that... that was not her voice, her voice was naturally pretty deep and the armor dropped it even more to protect her identity, except now it was much higher, and sounded... like a woman's voice? She stared at Trini, who was staring at her chest, and Jaylee looked down.

 

"What the fuck?!" she yelled, because she had boobs. Kim and Trini had molded chest plates but she, Zack, and Billy didn't, except now she did?

 

A putty threw a desk at them and they both ducked instinctively.

 

"Figure it out later!" Trini said, launching at the putties.

 

Jaylee shook her head, forcing herself to focus and joining the fight. She and Trini took out the putties here and paused, listening.

 

"Billy? Kim? Zack?" Jayee tried over the internal comms, her voice at least sounding normal in her helmet.

 

"Putties on the south field!" Kim yelled.

 

"And the science wing!" Billy added.

 

"I'm coming!" Zack yelled, the boy having not been at school.

 

Jaylee cursed. "Zack, go help Kim on the field. Trini and I will head for Billy, then we'll do a quick check of the rest of the school and meet you out there," she ordered.

 

She turned to Trini, who nodded at her, and they both took off. They came across two strangler putties on their way to the science wing, and Jaylee wondered how many had come here, this felt like a much more targeted attack, like the attack had been on Zack only on a larger scale.

 

They found Billy beating back four putties and jumped in to help him. Two labs were pretty much destroyed, but in the end so were the putties.

 

"Uh, Red..." Billy said, staring at her.

 

"Later," Jaylee shook her head, getting a shock all over again at the sound of her voice.

 

"Right," Billy said, nodding, though she could tell he was trying to stop glancing at her chest.

 

"Blue, you head to the field to help Pink and Black, they'll probably need support wrangling panicked people," Jaylee said. "Yellow and I will sweep the school and then join you."

 

Billy nodded, running out.

 

"I'll go up, you go down," Trini said, before heading out once Jaylee nodded.

 

Jaylee went in the opposite direction, jogging through the halls to make sure no putties were left inside, clearing her floors and running to the south field.

 

The rest of the team were already there by the time she arrived, and it looked like they'd killed about a dozen putties if the piles of rock and ash were anything to go by.

 

"All clear?" she asked as she ran up, Trini confirming and Kim and Zack staring as Billy kicked the last putty to dust.

 

"Uh," Zack started, but Jaylee cut him off, able to hear chatter starting up around them about them, catching a few comments about herself (wasn't the Red one a guy before?).

 

"Let's go," she ordered, leading them out of town and up to the mine, diving straight off the cliff and running to the ship.

 

"Girl, your armor..." Zack said once they were safely inside the ship.

 

Jaylee stared down at her chest, cautiously touching the metal. "I have no idea what's wrong with it," she said.

 

"And your voice," Kim added. "It's changed, too."

 

"Maybe it knows you're really a girl now?" Billy suggested.

 

"I've always been a girl," Jaylee said, "so shouldn't it always have been like this?"

 

"Maybe it waited for you to come out," Zack shrugged.

 

Jaylee shook her head, not really understanding but now that they weren't in danger, she actually kind of really loved it...

 

"Let's fill in Zordon, maybe he knows something," Trini said and Jaylee forced herself to focus. nodding and leading the way to the command center.

 

"Rangers!" Alpha-5 greeted. "Did something happen?"

 

Jaylee nodded. "Putties attacked us at school," she said, noting that Alpha-5 and Zordon didn't seem to notice anything different about her. "At least a dozen, probably closer to 20."

 

"For so many to form at once is disturbing," Zordon said, voice pensive.

 

"It's not surprising they attacked the school, though. It's one of the few places you consistently gather together," Alpha-5 pointed out.

 

"We were lucky to be able to slip away and morph," Kim frowned.

 

"Yeah, we can't protect the school while trying to _go to school_ ," Trini scowled.

 

"We need to locate the source and put an end to this," Jaylee said firmly.

 

"Agreed," Zordon said, nodding once.

 

"Billy, can you try to help Alpha-5 with the tracking?" Jaylee said, Billy nodding. "We should set up some kind of code for when putties attack, so we can get there faster."

 

"I've been working on that, actually," Billy said. "I've been trying to hack into the surveillance cameras around town. If I can duplicate the feed on our phones and run a basic search code, I should be able to make it send us an alert when a putty is spotted."

 

"Nice one, dude!" Zack grinned, punching his arm.

 

"That'll help when they attack town, but what if they attack somewhere without a camera?" Trini asked.

 

"I don't know," Billy said.

 

"We'll just have to try our best," Jaylee said firmly. "And from now on, I want everyone to text when they spot a putty before you engage, got it? No one fights these things alone."

 

"Ah, c'mon, Jaylee, we can handle a few putties alone," Zack whined, but Jaylee shook her head.

 

"She's right," Trini said. "Something's not right about this... Tracking us, and they places they've attacked. It feels like--"

 

"An ambush," Jaylee finished.

 

"Shit," Zack cursed.

 

"You may be right, Jaylee. Be on your guard, Rangers," Zordon ordered, all of them nodding.

 

Jaylee stared, everyone silent. "What did you call me?" she asked, wondering if she was hallucinating.

 

"Is that not your new name?" Zordon questioned. "Alpha-5 said you changed it."

 

"Ah, right. No, that's... yeah. That's my name," Jaylee said, stunned.

 

"While we're on the subject, any idea why Jaylee's got boobs and a girl voice now?" Zack asked bluntly, ducking Trini's punch.

 

Jaylee blushed under her mask.

 

"Has this not always been the case?" Zordon asked, seemingly genuinely confused.

 

"I know, it's so hard to tell the sexes apart!" Alpha-5 said, glad it wasn't the only one who'd gotten this wrong.

 

"Um, no, it all changed today," Jaylee said.

 

"Perhaps the morphing grid sensed your desire for the change," Zordon said.

 

"It can do that?" Kim asked.

 

"Of course! The morphing grid is connected inside of each of you," Alpha-5 said.

 

"Wow, so Zack was right -- it waited for you to be comfortable around us as a woman," Billy said, awed.

 

Trini snorted. "First time for everything, I guess."

 

"Hey!" Zack protested.

 

"Are we going back to school?" Kim asked, cutting him off. "We've probably been marked as skipping by now."

 

"Food instead? I'm technically on my lunch break right now," Zack said.

 

Jaylee nodded. "Sure, that works."

 

Everyone demorphed, Jaylee reluctant to let the armor go, watching it slowly dissolve and feeling disappointment at her flat chest, clearing her throat. "Let's go," she said, back to her old voice and already missing her other one.

 

\--

 

Jaylee quietly climbed in through Trini's window, shutting it softly behind her.

 

Trini lifted the covers up in silent invitation and Jaylee walked over, climbing into bed next to her, staring up at the ceiling and tracing the dent from Rita with her eyes, wondering how Trini could bare to sleep here, wondering how she could be so _strong_.

 

"Thanks," she whispered, "for letting me come over."

 

"I have literally slept in your bed at least one night a week for months, it's fine," Trini said, voice soft.

 

"Yeah, but this is different," Jaylee said -- the team came to her when they couldn't sleep or something had happened, she was the leader, but she never went to them.

 

"Yeah," Trini agreed, shifting on her side to study her profile in the dark. "But it's cool, as long as we're quiet it's fine."

 

Jaylee nodded, not wanting to cause any problems for Trini.

 

"So talk, Red," Trini said, voice soft but firm.

 

Jaylee shook her head. "It's so stupid," she sighed, feeling like everyone was dealing with much bigger problems than she was, she shouldn't be selfish or complain.

 

"Must not be, since you texted to come over," Trini said.

 

Jaylee sighed, turning onto her side to face Trini. "I got into a fight with my dad," she admitted. "He was asking about where I've been lately, and I get that he worries, so I was trying to just talking about hanging out with friends without revealing the whole, superhero thing, and it was fine. But then he started pressing about plans for the future and college and was I dating anyone, and he kept talking about how I need to grow out of being a kid and be a man, be a leader, and focus on my grades and try to make something of myself..."

 

Trini reached out to squeeze Jaylee's hand, the other girl squeezing back.

 

"He's got this image of me, as the perfect son, and I thought I ruined it when I crashed my truck and I did, for a while, but since Rita attacked, it's like he's moved past football and is focusing on teaching me to be a man, or whatever, and that's almost worse," Jaylee said, taking in a slow breath. "So I just stand there and I don't have the right answers or any answers at all, really, which gets him mad, which gets _me_ mad."

 

"Have you thought about telling him?" Trini asked.

 

"No way," Jaylee said immediately, trembling.

 

"Okay," Trini said soothingly, reaching out to rub her hand up and down Jaylee's arm.

 

"It's such a stupid thing to get upset over," Jaylee said, shaking her head. "He's always put this insane pressure on me, magnifies every mistake I've ever made, but somehow it feels _worse_ when he calls me 'son'... I'll never be what he wants, and I don't think he can accept that."

 

"Parents can be shit," Trini said, "and family can suck, but you've got us. We're family, too."

 

Jaylee blew out a breath, offering Trini a small smile. "Yeah. I know. Same for you."

 

Trini shook her head. "This is about you, not me. You're not alone, Jaylee, not anymore."

 

Jaylee nodded, sudden lump in her throat making talking impossible, still getting a jolt whenever any of them said her name, her real name.

 

"We should probably try to sleep," Trini said, knowing that would help. "You've just gotta go when the alarm goes off, cause if my mom catches a girl in my bed she'll kill me."

 

Jaylee's heart stuttered, actually forgetting to breathe for a second. "Okay," she said hoarsely. It didn't erase the pressure from her dad or his vision of her as his son, but those few words settled something inside her, validating her and confirming that she was accepted as is.

 

\--

 

"People already think we're dating, this is a horrible plan," Jaylee said, walking reluctantly.

 

Kim rolled her eyes, looping her arm through Jaylee's and holding tight so she didn't bolt. "That's exactly why this is a great plan. Girls make their boyfriends shop with them all the time."

 

"I'm not your boyfriend," Jaylee felt compelled to point out. _Or a boy at all._

 

"Of course you aren't!" Kim snorted. "But no one will bat an eye this way. We're hiding in plain sight."

 

"The princess is right, in an evil genius kind of way," Trini admitted on Jaylee's other side. "She's been hanging with Zack too much."

 

"Rude," Kim said in her best Zack imitation, making them all laugh.

 

Jaylee was still a bit nervous, but she walked into the mall with Kim and Trini, letting them lead her into one of the department stores.

 

Kim led her straight into the girl's juniors section and right to the racks of skirts, Trini abandoning them completely and heading for the men's section.

 

Jaylee felt out of her depth, awkwardly hovering at Kim's side as she flipped through the selections, eventually pulling out three different styles. "Pick two," she said, holding them up for Jaylee to see.

 

"Uh," Jaylee said, staring and trying not to blush, knowing she was meant to be picking for _herself_... Hesitantly, she pointed at the soft grey skirt that looked a bit short and the navy blue flowy one that was a bit longer.

 

Kim nodded, putting the other back and hanging on to those two, moving to shorts next and making Jaylee pick two patterns. Then she led her to the tanks and t-shirts, making her pick two of each, and then they went to the changing rooms.

 

"Kim," Jaylee hissed, blushing but glaring when Kim shoved her into an open stall and handed her the clothes.

 

"Try them all on," Kim ordered, reaching to close the door, which Jaylee was quick to lock.

 

Jaylee was bright red, but she hesitantly hung the clothes on one of the hooks and kicked off her sneakers, slipping her jeans off. She tried the skirts first -- the grey one was too small, but the blue one fit, if a bit loose at her hips once she got it on.

 

She stared at herself in the mirror, wearing a skirt, she was _wearing a skirt_ , nervous and scared and full of want.

 

Reluctantly she took it off, trying the shorts next but they didn't fit. She pulled off her shirt and tried the tops on next, but they were tight across her shoulders and chest, hugging muscles she didn't want to have. She put her jeans back on, slipping her shoes on and opening the door, handing Kim the blue skirt.

 

Kim nodded. "Okay," she said simply, leading her out and to the women's section, finding bigger shorts and skirts to try and different tops.

 

While she was in the second changing room, more clothes were flopped over the top of the stall. "Try these," Trini said, and Jaylee reached up to take them. These were men's shirts, but in purples and light blues and even a pink one, as well as some pastel plaid overshirts.

 

By the time they were checking out -- Kim insisting on paying -- she'd found four new shirts, one overshirt, two skirts, and one pair of shorts and knew her measurements for future use. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, and it must have shown or maybe Trini was just taking pity on her for having to shop with Kim, because she took her to get big pretzels and lemonade while Kim went to the other store she'd wanted to hit, apparently not really needing her to try anything on now that they had a general idea of her chest and waist sizes.

 

Kim returned with more bags of clothes and then Kim and Trini both dragged her to a makeup store, swatching foundations on her hands and finding the right tones for her skin, fleshing out her growing makeup collection.

 

\--

 

Jaylee woke with a gasp, sitting up in bed and panting for air. Her body was trembling, eyes searching the room for danger, and she was covered in sweat. She managed to catch her breath and calm down, but she couldn't shake the feeling of dread, a low level hum settled in her.

 

She grabbed her phone and stood up, throwing on a hoodie and sneakers and sneaking out her window. She'd just do a perimeter check, check on the team...

 

She ran at a steady pace through the sleeping town, checking on Billy first and seeing him asleep in his bed. She headed to Kim next, and then Trini, both girls also asleep.

 

She headed for Zack last as the farthest out, heart picking up when she peered through the windows of his trailer and couldn't see him. She turned to run to the train car, resolving to call him if he wasn't there.

 

Jaylee poured on the speed once she was away from anyone who could potentially see, racing to the car and stopping short right in front of it, panting and sagging with relief.

 

"Jaylee? You okay?" Zack asked, sitting up from where he'd been lying on top of the train car, jumping down.

 

"You weren't home," Jaylee accused, catching her breath.

 

"Nah, camping out tonight," Zack answered. "Wait, you went to my house? Did something happen?"

 

Jaylee shrugged. "I don't know, I can't sleep, I just... something's coming."

 

Zack tilted his head, studying her. "Okay?"

 

Jaylee made a frustrated sound. "I just feel like... something bad is going to happen. It feels like when Rita was here."

 

"Are you sure?" Zack asked frowning.

 

Jaylee sighed. "I don't know, I just... can't shake this feeling."

 

"Did you check on the others?" Zack asked.

 

Jaylee nodded. "Yeah, all safe at home. Not putties around town, either."

 

"I see, I'm last on the list," Zack teased.

 

"Only 'cause of the loop I took," Jaylee protested.

 

"It's fine, girl," Zack said. "Wanna stay? It's a clear night."

 

Jaylee doubted she could sleep right now. "Sure."

 

They jumped up to the top of the train car and settled laying down.

 

Zack pointed out the constellations that he knew, telling the stories that he remembered.

 

"How do you remember all that?" Jaylee asked hours later, voice low and sleepy.

 

"It's cool," Zack said. "People always try to make sense of what they see, and I think it's cool that someone stared up at the stars and drew pictures into them and we still have those stories."

 

"Mm," Jaylee hummed.

 

Zack grinned. "Go to sleep, Red," he whispered, settling himself more comfortably.

 

Jaylee didn't remember falling asleep, waking with a yawn when someone shook her, blinking and disoriented for a moment.

 

"Figured you'd wanna get home soon," Zack said, voice sleep-rough, the sun just rising.

 

"Yeah, thanks," Jaylee answered, yawning again.

 

Zack jumped down from the train with her. "You think it was just a nightmare, last night?"

 

Jaylee frowned. "I guess so."

 

Zack nodded. "Well, if you have another one, you can text me and I'll come to you for the sleepover -- your bed is more comfy than my train."

 

Jaylee grinned and rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

 

"Anytime, bosslady," Zack said, saluting her and making her laugh before she turned to head home.

 

\--

 

Dysphoria was the tension of unspent energy, the sizzle of gathered sparks in her muscles, the crash of lightning dancing in her bones. She hated this feeling, the awareness that days like this brought, the way everything that was wrong shone bright enough to blind her, when the small comforts burned like neon signs showing exactly how freakish she looked and suddenly her nails or her makeup or her tiny rebellions flashed as glaring, obvious signals of how much of a freak she really was.  The constant hum of _too big too broad too male all wrong_ buzzed in her head until she couldn't think of anything else, hyperaware of her body, of the press of clothes, of every shift and every breath and it was wrong, it was all _wrong_.

 

Sometimes it was all she can do not to scream, every syllable of her name, the wrong name, grating and every overhead male pronoun a thorn jabbed into her side and she just wanted to scream _I'm a girl I'm a girl I'm a **girl**_. But she couldn't, so she sucked it up and pretended to be the man they all wanted, the man they all saw anyway, and it killed her a little bit more each time.

 

Sometimes, she could close her eyes and count her breaths and fall asleep and the feeling was faded when she woke. Sometimes she could lie in bed for hours and hours not really sleeping but not really awake, either, drifting through time until the feeling passed.

 

Sometimes the hours dragged and nothing she did helped and she couldn't disconnect enough, too aware of her body and all the ways that it was wrong.

 

It was worse when it was the weekend because while school was awful, with its constant assault of _he_ and _Jason_ , at least it passed the time and schoolwork was something to try to focus on. But on the weekend, there weren't as many distractions, and the worst was on Sunday because homework was already done thanks to team study sessions Friday nights and there was no training schedule set since they trained for hours and hours and hours on Saturdays after detention.

 

Sundays were for putting in enough time with their families so that they didn't press as much during the week, and usually they ended up together in twos or threes, occasionally doing a movie night all five, but there was no set plan.

 

With no plans to distract herself with, Jaylee curled up in bed, her bedroom door locked. Her dad was working but her mom and Pearl were home and she didn't want to pretend that everything was okay when it wasn't. She picked up her phone and hesitated, part of her wanting to reach out to her friends, tell them it was a bad day and let them take care of her in the same way they took care of Zack on his mom's bad days or took care of Trini when her mom got on her case or took care of Kim when the cheerleaders got meaner or took care of Billy when the world got too loud. But she's the leader, she's supposed to protect them, and she knew they would try to help, would want to help, but sometimes their help was exhausting, too, because it pushed her to be herself and she wasn't sure she knew who that was.

 

She clicked her phone to vibrate and set it aside, burying herself in her covers, curled up as small as she could make herself, closing her eyes and trying to just... stop, for a while, until this became bearable again.

 

That's how Kim found her hours later, climbing in her window and hesitating, studying the curled up shape in bed and feeling her heart break a little.

 

"Jaylee?" Kim whispered, walking over to shake her shoulder gently, glancing at the closed door, mindful that her mom and sister were home.

 

Jaylee startled, shifting enough to poke her head out of the covers. "Kim?" she asked, confused. "Are you okay, is everyone okay?" Did they need her?

 

"Everyone's fine, we're worried about you," Kim said. "You haven't answered your phone all day..."

 

"Oh," Jaylee said blankly, settling once she knew everyone was okay. She looked up at Kim and offered her a strained smile. "I'm fine, just not feeling good. M'sleeping it off."

 

"You're sick?" Kim asked.

 

Jaylee hesitated, debating the lie, shrugging instead and not answering verbally.

 

"It's a bad day," Kim said, and this time it wasn't a question.

 

Jaylee flushed, shrugging again half-heartedly, unable to meet Kim's eyes.

 

Kim sighed, wishing Jaylee would have told them, they could have done something. "C'mon," she said, making a decision and pulling covers away.

 

"Hey!" Jaylee protested, sitting up when Kim took her blankets, glaring.

 

"You're not going to just wallow in bed feeling like shit," Kim said firmly. "You're coming to my house."

 

"Kim," Jaylee sighed. "I'm not in the best of moods today."

 

"Exactly why you are coming with me," Kim said. "You'll feel better if you can be yourself, and you can't do that locked up in your room hiding in bed."

 

"I don't even know how to be myself," Jaylee muttered, feeling out of place and like a freak.

 

"Jaylee, c'mon. Please?" Kim asked, just wanting to help.

 

Jaylee sighed again, nodding. "Okay."

 

An hour later, she was standing in Kim's bedroom wearing her blue skirt and floral-print tee, a bralette on underneath that still had her blushing a bit but that made her feel _really_ pretty, a headband in her hair making it look softer, helping Kim do her makeup and able to admit that putting all of this on actually _did_ make her feel a little bit better, especially when Kim helped her see all the places the fabric hid or accentuated in a way that made her look more feminine.


	6. Chapter 6

"Thanks for letting me come over," Jaylee said, following Billy into his house and down to his basement.

 

"No problem," Billy said brightly, moving to his work bench. "You want to talk about the attack yesterday?"

 

Jaylee groaned, sitting down and propping her elbows on the work bench, resting her head in her hands. "Yeah... it could have gone so bad..."

 

"But it didn't," Billy pointed out, settling to resume working from where he'd left off on trying merge the ship's communication technology with his cell phone so that the Alpha-5 could call the team if something happened.

 

"If Trini hadn't realized Kim was late..." Jaylee said.

 

Billy shook his head. "But she did."

 

"Yeah, but if she hadn't..."

 

"Kim would have fought them off on her own, or ran to get us," Billy pointed out.

 

"I know, but what if they had managed to cut her off before she could morph?" Jaylee said. Worry was still curled tight in her gut, along with a nice chunk of guilt -- she was supposed to be the leader, protect them.

 

"If they cut her off from the public, then she could morph," Billy pointed out. He knew Jaylee took being the leader very seriously, so even though he didn't really get the self-doubt she had when everyone told her she was doing a great job, he was happy to help her realize her fears were irrational and everything was okay.

 

Jaylee sighed, looking over at Billy. "We need a better signal, for when we spot putties. Sometimes it takes too long to call." Like yesterday... thank god Trini was doing her job, 'cause Jaylee clearly wasn't.

 

Billy frowned. "Well, I could try to program something into our phones? Like a pre-set message set to a specific key that if pressed, sends the message to the whole team?"

 

"You could do that?" Jaylee asked, impressed.

 

"I mean, yeah, probably," Billy shrugged.

 

"That'd be awesome!" Jaylee said, smiling.

 

"Okay, I'll figure it out tonight and we can set it up for everyone tomorrow," Billy said, smiling and clapping his hands happily at having another project to work on that would help the team.

 

"That's great, Billy!" Jaylee said, some worry easing.

 

Billy nodded. "You're great, too, Jaylee."

 

Jaylee glanced at the door, automatically checking for Billy's mom -- Billy insisted she wouldn't care if she knew that she was a girl, but Jaylee just couldn't tell her. Her friends and Zordon and Alpha-5 were one thing, but anyone else was just... terrifying.

 

"No, I'm not," Jaylee said. "You guys are amazing, you're inventing stuff to help us all the time and you help everyone stay calm when emotions run high. And Zack helps us laugh and relax even when we're stressed, he's always there for us even though he has a million other things to worry about. Kim, she gives the best pep-talks you could hope for and helps us unwind. And Trini, she's literally our courage, she's so strong that she makes charging into a fight almost easy because you know she's got your back."

 

"And you're our friend and a great leader," Billy said. "You keep us on track and make sure we're all okay, physically and emotionally. You help everyone with training, you spend time with everyone and let us vent our problems when you have your own to deal with, too. And during battles, you make sure we're doing what's best for everyone so that we can protect this town."

 

"Billy..." Jaylee said, not sure what else to say, feeling like she didn't deserve his praise.

 

"You're a great leader, Jaylee," Billy repeated.

 

"I'm not, yesterday I completely froze, I didn't notice Kim was late, she could've been hurt, more people could have been hurt if it wasn't for Trini," Jaylee protested.

 

"You can't do everything all by yourself, that's why we're a team. And that's why Trini is your second in command," Billy said, shaking his head. "And you followed Trini right into battle, and we won."

 

"But what if--"

 

"Stop thinking in what-if's and focus on what happened. Everyone is okay," Billy said gently.

 

Jaylee let out a slow breath. "I guess..."

 

"I want ice cream, do you want ice cream?" Billy said, knowing the treat would help Jaylee feel better.

 

Jaylee blinked at the topic shift, but pushed to stand. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Billy."

 

Billy smiled at her, leading the way upstairs and shifting the conversation to lighter topics.

 

\--

 

Jaylee laughed, dodging a sloppy punch from Kim. "We can't actually start a band," she said.

 

Zack grinned from his spar with Billy, doing a backflip away from him. "Why not, bosslady?"

 

"We don't play any instruments!" Jaylee said, twirling away from Kim.

 

"Speak for yourself," Trini smirked, sitting out this round and watching them spar.

 

"Ditto. It'd be fun, we already have the name!" Kim insisted, bringing her leg up and kicking out at Jaylee.

 

"Crazy girl, you've been holding out on us!" Zack accused, taking a hit from Billy in his distraction.

 

"I play an instrument, too," Billy informed them.

 

"See? Two instruments already!" Kim grinned, laughing when Jaylee knocked her back a step.

 

"Rangers!" Alpha-5 yelled, interrupting them, running into the pit. "I've found it!"

 

They all stopped sparring and Trini stood from her seat at the edge of the pit. "Alpha-5?" Jaylee questioned, stepping forward.

 

"The source! I found the source!" Alpha-5 said.

 

Jaylee straightened up, glancing around at everyone before focusing on Alpha-5. "Show us," she ordered, the team following the robot to the command center.

 

Alpha-5 moved over to a set of screens on the side, pulling up the map of the town. "It looks like the gold from Goldar has been slowly pooling here," it said, pointing. "There's a bigger concentration here, so something could be using the remnants of Rita's power in the gold to form the putties."

 

"Rangers, you must locate this magic user and stop them," Zordon ordered.

 

Zack frowned at the map. "Isn't this the mine? Like, really close to us?"

 

Billy nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, it looks like a cavern system just outside the mine proper."

 

"Great, the source is hiding in a cave," Trini muttered.

 

"At least this fight will be away from town?" Kim said hopefully.

 

Jaylee nodded. "All right, guys. It's--" She cut off when all their phones went off at the same time, everyone reaching for them.

 

"Putties in town!" Billy said, taping at his phone. "The surveillance program I wrote is working, there's putties in town."

 

"A lot of them, actually," Kim said, staring at her screen and flipping through the screenshots the surveillance cams had sent them.

 

"Mariner Bay, Reefside... are they going for the crystal?" Jaylee asked. She'd thought they were tracking them, attacking them for revenge.

 

"Putties can't get the crystal, right?" Zack asked, looking to Alpha-5.

 

"I don't know," Alpha-5 said uncertainly.

 

"Right. We need to deal with the putties first, then we'll head to the source," Jaylee said firmly, everyone nodding and pocketing their phones.

 

"It's morphing time!"

 

\--

 

"This is insane!" Kim said, flipping up to kick the head off a putty, landing and smashing her fist through another.

 

"There's gotta be at least a hundred of these things!" Zack agreed, yanking off an arm and smacking the putty down with it.

 

"Should we get the zords?" Billy asked.

 

Jaylee tensed, knowing everyone else had too, shaking her head. "We can do this," she said firmly. "The town is finally rebuilt, if we get the zords, we'll destroy it."

 

"Not on purpose," Trini muttered, not exactly _wanting_ to fight in her zord but not wanting people to die because they were too scared, either.

 

"We'll get them if we have to," Jaylee said, summoning the power sword and swinging it in a wide arc, taking out three putties at once. "Pink, Blue, head up a block, let's try to corral them to prevent any more damage," she said, blocking out the screams of panicked residents as best she could, focusing on fighting.

 

"On it!" Kim yelled, racing away with Billy.

 

"Black, Yellow, press them in towards Pink and Blue," Jaylee continued. "I'm going to do a quick perimeter run -- something about this attack feels off."

 

"Be careful, Red," Trini said.

 

"We got this!" Zack yelled.

 

Jaylee nodded, pulling back and racing off to the side, slipping down a side street and running, surveying the damage.

 

The putties had managed to destroy three or four buildings before the rangers had gotten here -- they seemed to be moving towards the newly-built Krispy Kreme and the Zeo Crystal beneath it, but it was almost as if them heading that way was an accident. They seemed much more focused on destroying the town instead, and she didn't understand _why_.

 

She took out some stragglers that broke off to head for her, making it to Kim and Billy and jumping in with them for a few minutes.

 

"Anything?" Kim asked.

 

Jaylee shook her head. "This is weird, this doesn't feel right!"

 

"What else could they be after?" Billy questioned.

 

"I don't know," Jaylee said, frustrated. She pulled back to circle the other side, pushing for more speed when she saw the side of building starting to collapse and people trying to get out of the way. She yelled as she caught the large slab, forced to her knees under the weight but catching it before it could crush anyone.

 

"Run!" she ordered the frozen people, waiting until they were clear before dropped the slab and standing up. She was by the water, out of habit glancing at the ships for her dad's, shaking her head. _No time for that!_

 

Jaylee completed the perimeter run, back with Trini and Zack and leaping into the fight.

 

"Their numbers are dwindling!" Billy said through the comms, and Jaylee realized he was right -- they were slowly winning despite the huge numbers against them, and her plan to contain them seemed to be working.

 

There were only 40 or so putties left when the ground started shaking. An earthquake? More putties?

 

They all shouted in surprised when the pavement beneath them cracked and split, something smashing up and through it from underneath.

 

Jaylee went flying along with the rest of the team, landing hard on the ground several feet away, winded. She pushed herself up. "Everyone okay?" she yelled, getting various confirmations over comms, freezing. What. The. Fuck.

 

Pushing itself up out of the ground was a monster made of rock fused with living gold. Large chunks of rock seemed to be supporting its main body, but it's head was entirely made of gold and was a sight that still haunted most of the rangers' nightmares.

 

Goldar.

 

"How is this real?!" Trini demanded, moving to stand at her right, Zack next to her.

 

"The source using the gold wasn't another magic user..." Billy said, following Kim to stand at Jaylee's left. "It _was_ the gold."

 

"But we killed it!" Zack protested.

 

"How do you kill gold, though?" Kim asked.

 

"It must be using Rita's lingering power to hold itself together," Jaylee said grimly. "The putties were destroying everything to help free it from the ground!"

 

It finished standing up, at about half its previous height, leaning down to roar at them in challenge.

 

"Let's go!" Jaylee yelled, charging forward, power sword in hand as the remaining putties swarmed them and Goldar turned for the Krispy Kreme.

 

"We need the zords!" Zack yelled, kicking a putty.

 

"We don't have time! Pink, can you get yours? Give us air support?" Jaylee asked, slashing her sword.

 

"I don't know!" Kim yelled, frustrated with herself -- they'd all tried to get into their zords multiple times these past months, and while everyone else had been able to walk around the underground cavern, Kim hadn't been able to fly in the air more than a minute without having a panic attack.

 

"Keep it busy!" Zack said, breaking away and taking off at top speed.

 

"Black!" Jaylee yelled, but he didn't slow, running for the ship.

 

"Red!" Billy yelled, smashing a putty who had been about to jump onto Jaylee while she was distracted.

 

"I'm gonna kill him!" Trini fumed, and Jaylee wasn't sure if she meant Zack or Goldar... probably both.

 

Jaylee yelled, charging through a line of putties and running full speed at Goldar, slamming her sword into the rock in its leg, hoping to break it. She managed two more hits, parts of it crumbling away, before Goldar made to kick her and she had to dive out of the way.

 

Trini leaped over her, smashing her fist into the same section of rock before leaping back.

 

"Finish the putties, Yellow and I will distract it!" Jaylee ordered Kim and Billy, tag-teaming hits to Goldar's legs with Trini, tripping it up as best they could and avoiding its kicks and swipes. Jaylee winced every time they dodged and the hit crumbled another building. At least everyone had run away by now so there was no one left to get hurt...

 

Kim and Billy smashed the last putty and Goldar roared in anger, reaching to smash both fists down, the ground shaking and crumbling under the hits.

 

"What do we do?" Kim asked a bit desperately.

 

"Open wide, bitch!" Zack yelled through the comms, zipping towards them in Kim's zord, flying straight at Goldar and firing, hitting it center mass.

 

"Black?!" Jaylee yelled, watching Goldar stumble and Zack pull the zord into a turn to loop back around.

 

"Surprise! We can power each other's zords! Flying is fucking awesome!" Zack yelled.

 

"Hey, be careful with Tera!" Kim yelled.

 

"You named your zord?" Billy asked.

 

"Focus, guys!" Jaylee ordered. "Black, keep it from reaching its goal and aim for the rock. If we can smash enough, it'll crumble."

 

"How do we stop the gold from just reforming, though?" Trini asked.

 

"One problem at a time," Jaylee said grimly, having no idea how to stop Goldar from continuing to reform. The more immediate problem was protecting the crystal and stopping it _now_.

 

Everyone nodded and resumed attacking, the four rangers on the ground taking leaping shots at its legs and Zack circling and providing support from the air.

 

"Uh, guys? There's a news crew hiding in the wreckage by the supermarket, I'm pretty sure they are filming this," Zack said over the internal comms.

 

Trini cursed, dodging a kick from Goldar. " _Idiots_."

 

"Why isn't it using fire like last time?" Kim asked, dodging a hit.

 

"I don't think it has enough magic to do that," Billy said. "It didn't even have enough to make its full body."

 

"It's weaker, we can beat it," Jaylee said encouragingly.

 

Zack did another charging fly at Goldar, spamming his (Kim's... Tera's?) weapons at its chest and showering the team in rock debris.

 

Jaylee used Goldar's momentary stagger to slam her sword into its leg, trying to keep hitting the same spot, rock dust blinding her for a moment as Goldar roared in agony.

 

Jaylee yanked her sword free and dove away, the edge of Goldar's foot knocking into her and sending her sprawling.

 

She had just enough time to roll before Goldar brought its foot down on her, getting her center mass out of the way but her left leg got caught beneath its foot as it stomped down and she yelled in pain, feeling the bones in her leg snap.

 

Her armor protested but protected her, remaining intact so that her leg wasn't pulverized, but because she'd rolled onto uneven pavement, the angle and force had snapped her leg.

 

"Red!"

 

Everyone was running towards her, Zack firing at Goldar's head, but Jaylee was trying to not throw up, pain excruciating.

 

She watched in a daze as Trini reached her first and picked up her power sword, slamming it straight through Goldar's leg at the spot Jaylee had been repeatedly hitting, the rock shattering and Goldar collapsing to the ground now that it only had one leg.

 

"Blue, protect Red. Black, Pink, we're finishing this," Trini ordered, still holding Jaylee's sword and charging at the collapsing Goldar.

 

"You'll be okay," Billy said. "What hurts? Your armor isn't broken."

 

"M-my leg, it's br-broken," Jaylee wheezed out, shifting to try to sit up and oh, that was a terrible idea.

 

Billy hurried to help her sit up, supporting her. "Maybe the armor can stabilize it?" he suggested.

 

Jaylee was about to ask how when she felt her armor tighten around her leg, shouting more in surprise then pain.

 

"What?!" Billy yelled, concerned.

 

"It's -- the armor is tightening. Like a cast?" Jaylee said, confused. She looked up at another roar from Goldar to see that the rest of the team had taken care of its other leg and both arms, and Trini and Kim and Zack -- when had he landed? -- were standing on Goldar's chest and slamming into him over and over.

 

"Help me up," she ordered, Billy reluctantly pulling her up and supporting her weight.

 

Jaylee wobbled on her good leg, using Billy as a crutch and blocking out the pain the best she could, wobbling over to where Goldar was beginning to melt, standing next to its head and staring into empty eye-sockets.

 

"If you come back, we'll just beat you again," she said. "And again. And again. Until the magic finally fades. We'll find a way to beat you for good."

 

"Red!" Zack yelled, shouldering up under her other side to help Billy hold her up, Kim and Trini rushing over, too.

 

Trini handed her the power sword and Jaylee took it, gripping the hilt and merging it back into her armor with a shimmer.

 

"Good job, everyone," she said, looking around at her team, proud of them.

 

"How bad is it?" Kim asked.

 

Jaylee saw movement and spotted the camera crew Zack had mentioned cautiously coming closer. "Not now, let's go," she ordered.

 

Everyone nodded, Billy picking Jaylee up bridal-style since she couldn't run, racing to the ship with Trini and Kim while Zack ran to get Tera and fly her back.

 

Billy took her straight to the med wing, Kim yelling for Alpha-5 and Trini going to report to Zordon, all of them demorphing their masks.

 

"What happened?" Alpha-5 asked as it entered.

 

"Jaylee's hurt, she thinks her leg is broken," Billy answered.

 

"Ay yi yi," Alpha-5 muttered, picking up a portable scanner to see how bad the break was.

 

Kim filled Alpha-5 in on what had happened and was just finishing when Zack ran in, followed seconds later by Trini.

 

"Well, your leg is definitely broken, you've got multiple fractures," Alpha-5 said. "Your armor is supporting it right now and has already realigned the pieces for healing."

 

"How long will that take?" Jaylee asked.

 

"Hmm... around 48 hours," Alpha-5 answered.

 

"Two days? How do I explain a broken leg that'll be healed in two days?" Jaylee asked, propping up on her elbows on the exam table.

 

"Well, 48 hours if you stay in your armor," Alpha-5 clarified. "It'll take a bit longer without the stabilization."

 

"Great," Jaylee said, shifting with a wince.

 

"What about the pain?" Kim asked, noticing.

 

"Ah, yes!" Alpha-5 said, digging around and pulling out what looked like a sticker, slapping it onto the armor at Jaylee's left thigh.

 

"What's that going to -- whoa!" Jaylee said, staring at her leg.

 

"What happened?" Trini demanded, glaring at Alpha-5.

 

"My leg is numb," Jaylee said. "No pain, no anything."

 

"The circuit patch is disrupting the sensors in your armor to your leg," Alpha-5 explained. "And since you're connected to the armor with the morphing grid, that cuts it off from your brain, as well. Pain receptors will not be received."

 

"That's so cool," Zack said.

 

Jaylee sat up, patting at her leg, knowing it was there but not feeling it. "It's weird," she said.

 

"Better than the pain," Kim said, and Jaylee nodded, turning to Trini.

 

"What did Zordon say?" Jaylee asked.

 

Trini shrugged. "The usual, we did a good job, blah blah. He mentioned that Alpha-5 might be able to magnetize the gold to a jail cell to stop this from happening again."

 

Alpha-5 blinked. "Oh yes, we have several containment units, if I reconfigure one and pinpoint Goldar's frequency..."

 

"That's great!" Zack grinned.

 

Jaylee relaxed a little, glad this wouldn't happen again. "This is probably all over the news by now, we should check in with our families," she said, watching Kim, Trini, and Billy pull out their phones.

 

"Go," she nodded at Zack with a smile when he looked torn.

 

"10 minutes, I'll be back!" Zack promised, demorphing and running out to go check on his mom.

 

Jaylee pulled out her own phone, sending her dad a text to let him know she was fine, knowing her mom and Pearl were away for one of Pearl's gymnastics meets. She listened to everyone assure their parents they were okay -- Billy telling his mom he was with his friends and they were all safe and he'd be home soon, Kim telling her parents she'd been across town and was fine, Trini telling her mom she was bowling and would be home once the streets were cleared a bit.

 

She wasn't really surprised when her phone started ringing and it was her dad, answering it. "Dad, I'm fine -- I know, I'm okay -- well, maybe a little hurt but it's -- I'm getting looked at right now -- I'll be home soon," she said, hanging up on him and groaning.

 

"Any ideas how I'm explaining this?" she asked the room at large, not at all looking forward to demorphing.

 

"You... sprained your leg?" Kim offered.

 

"Is that even a thing?" Trini asked.

 

"It can be. Anything is possible, really, human anatomy is weird but also resilient," Billy answered.

 

"Okay, we'll go with that," Jaylee said, not seeing any other choice.

 

"We should wrap your leg or something once you demorph so it doesn't move too much," Trini frowned.

 

"Do you have ace bandages, Alpha-5? We could use those, build up a thick layer to give cushion," Billy suggested.

 

"You'll have to take your jeans off," Kim added, nodding.

 

Jaylee blushed at that. "I can't do that!"

 

"Why not? Boxers are basically shorts -- oh," Kim said, realizing and sharing a look with Trini, who pulled her phone out and texted Zack.

 

"What's wrong?" Billy frowned.

 

"Nothing, B, it's a girl thing," Trini said, which made Jaylee blush a bit brighter but had Billy nodding, accepting that.

 

Alpha-5 dug out a box full of ace bandages, offering it to Trini, who nodded in thanks.

 

"Okay, Billy and Alpha-5 you guys leave, we'll help Jaylee," Kim said firmly.

 

Billy led Alpha-5 out, explaining that it was because Jaylee was a girl and not because they didn't want its help.

 

"Okay, demorph and we'll help get the pants off," Kim said, demorphing herself.

 

"I..." Jaylee hesitated, embarrassed.

 

Trini let her armor fade, too. "Jaylee, let us help you. Girl to girl."

 

"To girl," Kim added with a grin.

 

Jaylee huffed out a breath, not wanting to but... she knew she'd need help once the pain was back. "Okay," she agreed softly. She peeled off the circuit patch, handing it to Kim and sucking in a sharp breath, Trini's hands there immediately to steady her weight as she was sitting up.

 

Concentrating, Jaylee pushed the armor back, the morphing grid feeling almost... reluctant, to let her fade it out, but it went eventually and oh, fuck, it _hurt_.

 

She fumbled her fingers on the button and zipper, getting them undone and gripping the sides of the material tightly.

 

Kim moved to hold her broken leg in place with a light grip on her ankle, and Trini shifted to grip her waist.

 

"I lift up, you pull down," Trini said firmly, and Jaylee just nodded.

 

"One, two, three!" Trini said, easily lifting Jaylee.

 

Jaylee tugged the jeans down and off her waist, getting it out from under her ass and bunched on her thighs, cursing colorfully as Trini set her down again.

 

The pain was almost enough to distract her from getting embarrassed over wearing a pair of the panties Kim had gotten her, but neither girl said anything as Kim started carefully working the material down her legs.

 

Jaylee was grateful Kim didn't comment on her shaved legs, either, just trying to keep her legs still and gritting her teeth with every jolt, panting by the time the jeans were off.

 

Someone knocked on the door and Jaylee tensed, cursing because tensing _hurt_.

 

"I've got the goods!" Zack yelled.

 

Trini rolled her eyes as Kim moved to open the door just enough for Zack to shove a bag through.

 

"Thanks," Kim said, grabbing the bag and closing the door again, pulling out the pair of boxers and sweatpants and looking at Jaylee.

 

Jaylee blushed, holding out a hand. "I'll do this myself, turn around."

 

Trini sighed but nodded, helping her settle laying down before moving with Kim and turning around so they couldn't see her.

 

Jaylee used her good leg for leverage, tugging the panties down and sitting up to slip them completely off, clenching her jaw at the radiating pain in her broken leg from her small movements. Quickly, she slipped the boxers on and laid back to tug them up, settling them in place and stuffing the panties into the bag.

 

"Okay," she said hoarsely, feeling like she was going to throw up from the pain.

 

Kim grabbed her jeans and stuffed them into the bag, too. "We can just leave these here with the dry clothes," she said, knowing Jaylee wouldn't want her family to accidently discover anything.

 

Jaylee nodded in agreement, watching Trini pick up an ace bondage roll. "This is not gonna be fun," she said, and Jaylee bit out a laugh.

 

"Just do it," she said, bracing herself. Kim carefully lifted her leg, holding it as steady as she could while Trini wrapped. It was snug without being overly tight, and Trini made sure to layer it as thick as possible to give her cushion.

 

Jaylee winced when Kim finally set her leg down when they were done wrapping.

 

"Almost done," Trini promised, helping Kim tug the sweatpants up her legs, the material just big enough to fit over the bandaging.

 

Jaylee laid back when they were done and just focused on breathing, not noticing Kim opening the door and letting the boys know they could come back in.

 

"Why do girls always look so much better in guys clothes?" Zack teased.

 

Jaylee waved a hand at him, not having the energy for anything else, but she smiled.

 

Trini punched Zack lightly. "Cause we're better looking in anything," she answered, high-fiving Kim.

 

"Uh, guys? How are we getting her out of here?" Billy asked, looking around.

 

"Shit. We'll have to take the long way to the backdoor Zack installed last year," Trini said.

 

"Take a zord for a joyride ONE time and they never let you forget it!" Zack complained, laughing.

 

Trini punched him. "You can carry, her, too, since Billy brought her in."

 

Zack winced at the punch, but walked over to where Jaylee had mostly caught her breath, bowing. "M'lady," he grinned.

 

Jaylee rolled her eyes. "You better behave once we leave here."

 

"Of course," Zack said seriously, all hints of teasing gone. "I won't out you. C'mon, let's blow this pop stand." He carefully slipped an arm under her back, lifting her upper body before getting his other arm under her legs, wincing when she did.

 

"Okay?" he checked once he had a good grip on her, trying not to jostle her legs too much.

 

"Yeah," Jaylee said a bit hoarsely, arm over Zack's shoulders and fingers twisted in his t-shirt.


	7. Chapter 7

It took longer than usual to get to Jaylee's house since they couldn't run down from the mine -- Zack tried, but the movement jostled Jaylee's leg too much.

 

Kim knocked on the door once they got there, giving Jaylee a quick smile.

 

Sam Scott yanked the door open and just stared for a minute.

 

"I'm fine," Jaylee said, and that seemed to snap her dad out of it.

 

"What happened?" he demanded, letting all of them inside and following Zack as he went to the living room couch.

 

Jaylee winced when Zack set her down on the couch, clenching her jaw at the pain.

 

"I'm fine," Jaylee repeated, as Kim hopped up on the arm of the couch at her head, Zack standing next to her, Billy at her feet and Trini standing at her shoulder almost protectively.

 

"How is this fine?" Sam demanded. "You're clearly hurt, is your leg _broken_?"

 

Jaylee winced. "It's just sprained, we already had it looked at, okay? Two days of wrapping it and keeping off it and it'll be fine."

 

Sam exhaled loudly, angry that his kid was hurt, glancing around belated at the rest of them. "Is everyone else okay?"

 

Trini nodded. "Yeah, we're fine."

 

"Good... how did this happen?" Sam asked.

 

"I, uh, fell during a tremor from the destruction," Jaylee said, thinking fast and hoping her lie was believable. "Uneven ground, landed wrong."

 

"They aren't airing much yet, just a few clips -- it was the same creatures attacking again?" Sam asked.

 

Jaylee nodded. "Yeah, I mean, we didn't stick around but yeah."

 

"They were defeated, though," Kim added.

 

"Yeah, the Power Rangers came back," Billy smiled.

 

"And kicked ass!" Zack added.

 

"We didn't stay and watch the fighting, we were just in the crossfire," Trini was quick to add. "We got to safety as quick as we could."

 

Sam looked around at them all, gaze landing on Jason. "You're sure you're okay?" he asked, reaching to squeeze his shoulder.

 

Jaylee nodded. "Yeah, Dad. I'm okay," she promised.

 

Sam nodded back. "Thank god your mother and Pearl were out of town when this happened."

 

"There were a lot of people running away, I don't think there were many who stuck around," Zack said.

 

"Yeah, hopefully there aren't too many people hurt," Kim nodded.

 

Sam sighed, looking around at them all again. "I'm sure they'll say on the news," he said, reaching for the remote to turn the TV on, grainy images of the Power Rangers fighting filling the screen.

 

"Did they give you something for pain, when they checked you out?" he asked.

 

Jaylee shook her head. "Uh, no, I didn't want to be admitted so no," she said, lying.

 

Sam nodded. "Let me get you something, then."

 

They watched him leave, everyone watching the TV, seeing themselves fighting the putties and Goldar.

 

"We look so badass," Zack whispered, wincing when Trini punched him and hissed at him to shut up.

 

Sam came back with some pills and a glass of water, handing them both to Jaylee.

 

Jaylee took the pills gratefully, doing her best to block the pain out, already planning on morphing in her room at night so she could use that circuit patch...

 

Sam turned to the TV at the announcement that so far only 5 people had been treated for minor injuries, the reporter saying it was miracle that the Power Rangers had once again shown up to save them before adding they were going to play new footage from the fight.

 

He watched closely with Jason and his friends, everyone watching as the rock and gold monster swang at the Power Rangers, the footage a bit grainy but you could clearly see Yellow, Pink, Blue, and Red charging at its legs.

 

The camera panned up to the sky and the flying jet shot at the monster, and you could hear the reporter commenting that Black was the pilot. The camera pulled back down just in time to see Red leap away from a kick and roll, not getting out of the way in time and getting stepped on. The rest of the Rangers immediately pulled rank, and the camera followed Yellow and Pink as they charged the monster, Blue staying with Red.

 

 _"We're still processing the rest of our footage, but one thing is certain: the Power Rangers once again saved Angel Grove_ ," the reporter said.

 

Jaylee winced watching Goldar step on her, leg throbbing in pain, and everyone reached out to touch her in some way, to connect themselves, without even thinking about it.

 

Sam turned back to the kids, face set, glancing at Jason's leg and the ace bandages peeking out from beneath his sweatpants and then at how everyone was pressed close protectively... He ran a hand over his face, turning to Billy.

 

"Thank you for protecting Jason," he said, and everyone froze.

 

Jaylee stopped breathing for a minute, her heart racing in her chest and loud in her ears.

 

"Uh," Billy said, having no clue how to respond to that. "We, uh, all helped," he tried, but Jaylee's dad shook his head.

 

"I wish I could kill that thing myself, but I guess thanking you is all I can do," Sam added, looking at Trini.

 

"D-Dad?" Jaylee asked, eyes wide. He... what...

 

"Look, I don't know how it happened, or why. I mean, jesus, you are just _kids_ ," Sam said, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. "But you're heroes."

 

"Dad?" Jaylee repeated, voice cracking. Oh god, oh god, he knew, he _knew_ , if he knew what they were, did he know which ones, did he see her armor, oh god.

 

"I love you, but subtle you are not," Sam said with a small smile, seeing them all panicking and trying to show it was okay.

 

"Pink," he said, pointing at Kim, who reeled backwards. "Blue," to Billy, who blinked at him, eyes wide. "Black," to Zack, who was slack-jawed. "Yellow," to Trini, who was glaring.

 

"Red," Sam said gently, pointing at Jason.

 

"Dad, I... I can..." Jaylee tried, breath quickening, panicking and glancing around at everyone. Seeing her team panicking, too, she forced herself to take a deep breath, her shoulders squaring.

 

"Relax," Sam said, "I won't tell anyone. No one else knows? None of your parents?" he added, but the others just shook their heads, all of them glancing at Jason for how to respond.

 

"You can't tell anyone," Jaylee said firmly, staring up at her dad. "Not mom or Pearl or _anyone_."

 

"I won't. This is incredibly dangerous--" Sam said.

 

"We'll be fine," Jaylee cut off. "We're strong. We're a team," she added, glancing at everyone reassuringly even though nerves and panic were like ice in her gut.

 

"Clearly the armor you wear isn't invincible," Sam said, waving at Jason's leg.

 

Jaylee winced. "I'm fine."

 

"This time," Sam conceded. "What if _next_ time--"

 

"We'll be faster next time," Jaylee cut him off. "Look, like it or not, this is what we have to do. And you _can't_ tell anyone, even you knowing is a risk -- how did you figure it out?"

 

Sam snorted. "You aren't subtle," he repeated. "The five of you fall together right when it all happens, and you all wear your colors all the time! And... I knew you were Red when you saved me from my truck."

 

Jaylee's breath stilled, because _fuck_ , he'd known the whole time, the doctor's notes and covering with the school made so much more sense now, he'd _known_ that Jaylee wasn't cutting to goof off but was cutting to fight putties, all his sudden focus on teaching her to be a man and a leader making sense and oh _fuck_.

 

The armor.

 

If he'd known from the start, he knew that Jaylee's armor changed. Hell, he'd just watched _her_ get stepped on, he had to have seen it, he knew she was _Red_ and her armor was _female_ like Pink's and Yellow's.

 

Billy reached out to hold on to her right ankle, Kim placed one hand on her shoulder, Zack put his hand on her other shoulder, and Trini took her hand and squeezed, and then she could almost breath again, because she wasn't alone.

 

"You've always been a leader," Sam was saying, Jaylee tuning back in, watching her dad watching her team pull rank around her but continuing to talk, "you have the ability to push people to their best. And look at what you've accomplished, and without taking any credit or fame... It's dangerous and reckless and that's just like you, isn't it, to find some way to literally throw yourself into the fray. I'm so _proud_ of you."

 

"Dad," Jaylee choked out, heart racing.

 

"You've grown up so much these last few months," Sam said. "I love you. And I'll always love you. No matter what."

 

Trini straightened in front of Jaylee, as if to physically protect her from anything else Sam could say, and Jaylee squeezed her hand. "Trin, it's okay," she whispered.

 

Sam shook his head. "I can see why you're the second-in-command," he said wryly.

 

Jaylee chuckled a bit even though she felt like she was going to cry or throw up or both. "If... if you know that I'm Red, that I've _always_ been Red, then you've... you've seen...?"

 

"You've seen Red kick ass is what you've seen," Zack said fiercely.

 

"Red is the strongest of all of us," Kim said firmly.

 

"And the bravest," Billy added.

 

"Red is the one who holds this team together," Trini said, glare practically _daring_ Jaylee's dad to say the wrong thing.

 

Sam had known that they must all know, but seeing them acting so protective, knowing Jason went to them when he couldn't go to his own father, it hurt.

 

"I'm proud of you," Sam repeated, knowing he needed to get this right. "I might not... know a lot, about this. Or what the right term even is... but I love both my children. Both my daughters."

 

Jaylee stopped breathing, tears pooling in her eyes. "Dad?" she whispered.

 

"Whatever this is, you can tell me. We'll get through it and make it work. I only ever wanted you happy, and these past few months... hell, these past few _weeks_... you've practically been glowing. I know I push you, but I just want you to be the best that you can be. You have so much potential, Jason, and I think you see that now, too," Sam said.

 

"It's, um," Jaylee said, clearing her throat and swiping quickly at her eyes with her free hand. "I, uh, prefer Jaylee, actually."

 

Sam blinked. "Oh. Okay. Jaylee."

 

"Y-yeah," Jaylee choked out, trying and failing not to cry.

 

Sam took a step closer and Trini took a step to the side, giving him room to lean down and hug Jason -- Jaylee.

 

Jaylee dropped Trini's hand in favor of wrapping both arms around her dad's shoulders, crying into his shoulder and feeling the team hovering close by but giving them this moment.

 

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're okay. I love you, you think I'd turn you out for something like this? _Never_. I'm so proud of you, you're so strong, it's okay," Sam said, just holding her close.

 

"S-sorry," Jaylee muttered when she eventually pulled back, wiping at her face.

 

"No, I'm sorry, for not noticing. For not showing you enough support for you to feel comfortable coming to me," Sam said firmly. "Is this... new? The armor didn't change until recently..."

 

"No, ah, no," Jaylee answered. "It's... I've always. Um. This has always been me. The armor changed once I told the rest of the team."

 

"Okay," Sam said. "We can... we can talk more later, we can tell your mom, or I can tell her if you want. Pearl will probably love this," he joked.

 

Jaylee blushed a bit. "Pearl already knows, or at least, she won't be surprised when you tell her."

 

Everyone was surprised to hear that, even the rangers.

 

Jaylee shrugged. "She knew to keep the secret."

 

"Okay," Sam said, a little choked up because wow, was he that terrible a father that Jason -- Jaylee -- felt like she had to hide this and swear her sister to secrecy?

 

Jaylee nodded, shifting and wincing.

 

"Is your leg really just sprained?" Sam asked.

 

"Um," Jaylee hesitated. "No?"

 

"If it's broken, why didn't you go to the hospital? You need a cast," Sam chastised.

 

"It'll be healed in two days," Jaylee said. "Don't need a cast."

 

"Two days?" Sam repeated, shocked.

 

"Yeah," Kim confirmed. "Accelerated healing came with the package."

 

"Jesus," Sam cursed softly.

 

"Two days is the time factor when morphed in the armor, though," Trini added, shrugging at Jaylee's look. "What? He already knows, you might as well morph and then you can use the circuit patch."

 

"Morph?" Sam repeated, confused.

 

"Put on our armor," Zack clarified.

 

"Oh. I mean, if it will help you heal faster, you should," Sam said, nodding at Jaylee. "Where is it, do you need help getting it?"

 

"We have our armor with us right now," Billy said, hand over his chest.

 

"Zordon is gonna be so pissed," Jaylee muttered.

 

"Screw Zordon," Trini muttered back, making Jaylee smile a bit.

 

"It's probably better if I just show you," Jaylee said, waiting for Zack and Kim to pull the curtains closed, smiling hesitantly at her dad and pulling on her armor, morphing.

 

The morphing grid responded quickly, immediately tightening around her broken leg and supporting it.

 

Sam gasped, watching the armor grow and surround his kid, slightly panicked but then the mask dissolved.

 

"I'm okay," Jaylee said, sighing in relief when Kim slapped the circuit patch onto her leg and it went numb.

 

"That... that stuff is _inside_ you?" Sam asked, staring and trying not to linger on her chest.

 

"Yeah, but it's okay," Jaylee promised, sitting up.

 

"Whoa, take it easy!" Sam snapped, rushing to brace her.

 

"I'm good, Kim put the circuit patch on. It's numbing my leg, I can't feel the pain," Jaylee assured.

 

"We don't really understand the technology, either, we just know it works," Billy said.

 

"It's... it really doesn't hurt?" Sam asked.

 

Jaylee shook her head. "No, it doesn't hurt."

 

"Knowing you were the Red Ranger and then seeing it happen right in front of me... and you can all do that? Morph?" Sam asked, looking around and realizing he really had no clue what was going on with these kids or what these powers were. The only thing he did know was that they were using them to protect everyone.

 

Everyone nodded at Sam, and Jaylee reached out hesitantly. "You okay, Dad?"

 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," Sam said, hesitantly touching Jaylee's hand and tracing his fingers up her arm, feeling the smooth metal. He glanced at her leg again, replaying in his head that monster stepping on her. "How strong is this stuff?"

 

"Pretty strong," Jaylee said.

 

"And so are we," Trini added.

 

Sam nodded slowly. "Right... let's get you up to your room. And everyone else should probably go home, I'm sure all your parents are worried about you."

 

"They know we're okay," Trini said.

 

"Knowing and seeing are two different things," Sam said.

 

Jaylee nodded. "It's okay, guys, go."

 

Kim, Billy, and Zack glanced at Trini, who nodded, making Jaylee smile.

 

"We'll be back tomorrow, bosslady," Zack said, clapping her on the shoulder.

 

"Take it easy on that leg, Jaylee," Kim said.

 

"Don't forget to take off the circuit patch if you demorph," Billy reminded.

 

Trini glanced at Sam before meeting Jaylee's eyes. "Text us."

 

"I will," Jaylee promised, waving them out.

 

"C'mon, let's get you upstairs," Sam said, feeling a little bit of déjà vu helping Jaylee up the stairs, as he'd had to help Jason with the stairs after his truck accident and the damage to his knee.

 

"What about your knee?" Sam asked once Jaylee was sitting on her bed.

 

"Healed, for the most part. Takes a lot to push it, now," Jaylee answered, leaning back against her headboard.

 

Sam nodded, amazed.

 

"Dad?" Jaylee asked.

 

"Yeah?" Sam said, turning back from the door.

 

"You're really... okay with this?" Jaylee asked hesitantly.

 

"With you being a Power Ranger? Or with you being... Jaylee?" Sam asked.

 

Jaylee winced. "Both?"

 

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay with it."

 

Jaylee nodded back, lingering fear and nerves slowly fading. "Okay."

 

"Rest up," Sam said.

 

Jaylee nodded, watching her dad leave and close the door, settling to lay down and staring up at her ceiling, emotions whirling inside her. Mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted, she fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Jaylee grabbed her duffle bag, double checking she had everything, before leaving her room and going downstairs.

 

"I'm going to Kim's!" she called out, putting on her shoes.

 

Her dad walked into the hall. "Staying over?"

 

Jaylee nodded. "Yeah, probably."

 

"Just for fun?" Sam pushed.

 

Jaylee nodded again. "Yup." No putties or monster attacks.

 

Sam nodded, relieved. "Good. I, uh, like the purple."

 

Jaylee glanced at her hands and the bright purple nail polish she was wearing, grinning and ducking her head. "Thanks."

 

Sam nodded again, still not quite used to this but clearly trying his best.

 

"I'd better go," Jaylee said, inching towards the door.

 

"Right. Have fun, Jaylee," Sam said.

 

Jaylee grinned widely at him, heart picking up. "I will!" she promised, leaving and heading for Kim's to get ready for bonfire night.

 

Two hours later when Kim and Jaylee walked to Zack's spot they'd long since adopted as their own, she was only feeling a little nervous.

 

"Hey," she greet Trini, Zack, and Billy.

 

Zack eyed her up and down and then let out a whistle. "Damn, girl!"

 

"You're killing it," Trini agreed with a grin.

 

"Wow, you look amazing," Billy smiled.

 

Jaylee blushed as Kim nudged her. "Told you," the pink ranger said smugly.

 

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, guys," Jaylee said, smoothing her skirt and taking a seat, resting her heeled boots on the ground crossed at the ankle, only tugging a little at the soft pink top she was wearing.

 

"How's your dad been?" Trini asked.

 

Jaylee half-shrugged. "Okay? It's a little weird, him being supportive."

 

"But that's a good thing," Billy pointed out.

 

"Yeah, it's just... different. He's been pretty cool with the Power Rangers stuff," Jaylee said.

 

"And the girl stuff?" Zack asked gently.

 

Jaylee half-shrugged again. "He's trying. He gets more upset than I do when he uses the wrong name."

 

"He'll get there," Kim reassured.

 

Jaylee smiled at her. "I know. I know it's a lot, a big change for him, and he _is_ trying, so..."

 

"What about your mom?" Trini asked.

 

"She's better at remembering. She, uh, bought me some stuff," Jaylee said.

 

"That's great!" Billy grinned.

 

"And Pearl?" Kim asked.

 

"She's loving it, she loves having a big sister," Jaylee said, blushing a bit, chest feeling tight but in a good way, so happy that she actually _got_ to be a big _sister_...

 

"Jaybird, you are adorable," Zack declared.

 

"Ooh, I like that one," Trini grinned.

 

"Much better than Bluejay," Kim agreed.

 

"Hey, I liked Bluejay," Billy protested.

 

"Well, JL's opinion is the only one that matters," Zack laughed. "Well?"

 

"I like it," Jaylee grinned.

 

Zack whooped. "Aw, yes! I am freaking awesome at this!"

 

"So that's Red, JL, Lee, Bluejay, and Jaybird?" Billy checked, pulling out his phone to update his list.

 

"Yeah, I think so," Jaylee nodded.

 

"Awesome," Billy grinned.

 

"Not bad, Z," Trini said.

 

"That was almost a compliment and I'll take it!" Zack grinned, teasing and laughing when Trini rolled her eyes at him.

 

"Okay, so who's got the marshmallows? I was promised smores," Kim said.

 

"I've got chocolate," Billy said, pulling his bag out.

 

"Graham crackers," Zack grinned, waving the package around.

 

Trini tossed the marshmallows to Kim. "Get cooking, Pink."

 

"Make your own, lazy," Kim teased.

 

"I'll make you one, Trini," Billy said, stealing the bag of marshmallows from Kim.

 

"Aw, thanks, Billy, you're totally my favorite," Trini grinned.

 

"Aw, T, I thought I was your favorite," Zack protested, tossing her the crackers.

 

"Second favorite," Trini decided, handing the crackers to Billy so he had all the ingredients.

 

"I'm surprisingly okay with that," Zack nodded.

 

"Hey, Billy, can you make me one, too?" Jaylee asked.

 

"And me!" Zack shouted.

 

"Sure!" Billy grinned.

 

"Aw, hey, what about me?" Kim pouted.

 

"Don't worry, Kim, I'll make you one, too," Billy promised.

 

"Mine first though, right?" Trini grinned.

 

"Shouldn't Billy get first, since he's making them?" Zack asked.

 

"Hey, I was the one who brought them up, I should get first dibs!" Kim protested.

 

"Jaylee, pick. Who gets the first one?" Billy said, turning to their leader to decide.

 

Jaylee laughed and looked around at her friends, relaxed and happy. "Me," she grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for your feedback and support! I may revisit this 'verse again one day because it was so much fun, but this is the end for now, with everyone happy and safe. Thank you so much for every kudo and comment, they really mean a lot! <3


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